One of the bigger local real estate stories right now is the District of North Vancouver recently voting no to the Province’s proposed density changes, with West Vancouver also pushing back on similar legislation.
If this conversation sounds familiar, it’s because Burnaby already went through something similar last year. Burnaby moved forward with the Province’s density push fairly aggressively, allowing much larger housing forms in traditionally single-family neighbourhoods. Once projects actually started getting built, there was quite a bit of public feedback around parking, tree loss, privacy, and overall neighbourhood character. Burnaby didn’t completely reverse the density changes, but they did tighten some of the rules afterward. The photo below is an example of one of the new homes currently being built in Burnaby under those original approvals.
I think most people can agree we need more housing supply, but at the same time, I personally don’t think a one-size-fits-all approach is necessarily the answer either. Every municipality, neighbourhood, and community dynamic is different, so it will definitely be interesting to see how this unfolds on the North Shore over the next few years.