City plans Vancouver-wide amenity cost charge on development to pay for growth | Daily Hive

City plans Vancouver-wide amenity cost charge on development to help pay for growth

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The City of Vancouver is preparing a historic overhaul of how it charges new building developments to help pay for the infrastructure and amenities needed to support growth, with a new city-wide Amenity Cost Charge (ACC) planned to take effect on Sept. 30, 2026.

Essentially, the planned change would make Vancouver’s development contribution system more standardized and less dependent on the project-by-project negotiations of Community Amenity Contributions (CACs). Development Cost Levies (DCLs) would continue to help pay for infrastructure such as streets, utilities, parks, fire facilities, replacement affordable housing, and child care.

Historically, the City has depended on the uses of CACs when rezonings enabling certain new market uses and added density create additional property value, but City staff note there is a desire to move toward more predictable charges on developers and retain CAC negotiations generally only for larger, more complex projects.

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The desire for improved predictability in the development process — reducing the use of the time-intensive negotiation process that can last for up to years in some jurisdictions — was laid out by the provincial government’s Bill 46 in November 2023, which applies to both the B.C. Local Government Act governing municipal governments across the province and the separate Vancouver Charter governing the City of Vancouver. That legislation provided new and expanded development finance tools for municipalities to fund infrastructure and amenities in support of population growth, and replaced the density bonus framework. It expanded how DCLs can be spent and introduced ACCs.

Moving forward, City staff recommend exempting several types of rezonings from CAC negotiations, including 100 per cent employment or institutional rezonings. For properties with a land area of under 30,000 sq. ft., exemptions would also apply to certain 100 per cent secured purpose-built rental housing projects, including Vancouver Eastside rental projects up to 12 storeys, Vancouver Westside rental housing projects up to six storeys, rental housing projects with a 20 per cent below-market component, and strata ownership market condominium projects up to five storeys. Existing CAC targets would be removed for rezoning applications submitted after Sept. 30, 2026, although negotiated CACs would continue for larger developments.

The new ACC would be added on top of DCLs and would fund community amenities such as community and recreation centres, cultural spaces, public plazas, public art, and libraries.

55 million sq. ft. of net new building floor area through 2036: forecast

In a report that will be considered by Vancouver City Council next week, City staff state the package of changes is needed to support the next decade of population and employment growth from 2027 to 2036. Over that period, the City is forecasting about 55 million sq. ft. of net new building floor area will be constructed within its jurisdiction, with most of it concentrated in the Metro Core — the combined area encompassing the Downtown Vancouver peninsula and Broadway Plan area — as well as the areas of recent community plan (such as the Cambie Corridor Plan, Broadway Plan, and Rupert and Renfrew Station Area Plan) and areas near other SkyTrain stations.

Of that total, about 44.2 million sq. ft. is expected to be residential. The largest share, 37.4 million sq. ft., is expected to be higher-density residential developments, while 6.4 million sq. ft. is expected to come from lower-density residential forms such as laneway houses, duplexes, townhouses, and multiplexes. Another 0.4 million sq. ft. is forecast for stacked townhouses and low-rise apartments.

The new residential development forecast is also heavily weighted toward secured purpose-built rental housing, with 53 per cent of the new residential floor area expected to be rental, 39 per cent ownership or strata, and eight per cent below-market housing.

Another 11.1 million sq. ft. of net new non-residential space is expected, including 7.6 million sq. ft. of commercial and other uses such as office, retail, institutional, and hotel space, 3.1 million sq. ft. of industrial space, and 0.5 million sq. ft. of mixed-employment light industrial space.

The overall 10-year capital program tied to supporting this growth is estimated at $7.7 billion. Of this, about $2.3 billion is expected to be covered directly through DCLs and ACCs, including about $1.81 billion through DCLs and about $483 million through ACCs. The rest would be covered through other sources, such as federal and provincial funding, partner contributions, existing reserves, CACs, density bonus reserves, and other sources.

The DCL-funded program includes 26 km of new sewer and drainage pipes, over five km of water mains, 110 km of road upgrades, 120 km of new sidewalks, 80 traffic signals, and other street, safety, accessibility, and transit integration improvements. It also includes up to 12 acres of parkland acquisition, 10 to 13 new or improved public parks, 20 to 24 new or renewed playgrounds and spray parks, one new firehall, four firehall renewals, up to 3,455 replacement affordable housing units, and 540 child-care spaces.

The new ACC-funded program would support the renewal and expansion of three to five community centres, two to three recreation facilities such as pools and rinks, 150,000 sq. ft. of exhibition, performance, and production space, 75,000 sq. ft. of social facility space, 15 to 20 new public art pieces, up to 15 permanent plazas, public washrooms, street furniture, sidewalk widening on commercial streets, three to four branch library upgrades or expansions, and improvements to the Central Library branch in Downtown Vancouver.

Phasing of fees and continued fee reductions

Under the planned 2026 ACC rates, lower-density residential development at or below a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 1.2 times larger than the size of the land area would pay $2.32 per sq. ft,. residential development between 1.2 FAR and 1.5 FAR would pay $5 per sq. ft., and apartment development above 1.5 FAR would eventually pay $10 per sq. ft. However, City staff recommend phasing in the high-density residential ACC over two years, starting at half the rate on Sept. 30, 2026, before moving to the full rate in 2027. ACC rates would then rise by three per cent every year on Sept. 30 in 2027, 2028, and 2029.

For non-residential development, the ACC would be $1.20 per sq. ft. for industrial space, $2.25 per sq. ft. for mixed-employment light industrial, and $3 per sq. ft. for commercial and other uses.

At the same time, City staff are recommending that the 20 per cent temporary reduction to existing DCL rates that City Council approved in December 2025 to support development viability be maintained. The reduced rates were approved as a measure to improve the financial and economic viability of projects amid highly challenging market conditions.

As well, City staff are also recommending a number of transition measures. Applications already in stream before Sept. 30, 2026, would be protected from the new ACC until the bylaw is amended. Because the bylaw builds in annual rate increases through 2029, City staff note some in-stream projects could effectively have up to five years of protection from the new charge. Projects that have already secured CAC obligations could also receive ACC credits to avoid being charged twice for the same type of amenity contribution.

For larger projects owing at least $500,000 in DCLs, the ACC could also be deferred. Under this option, 25 per cent would be paid before building permit issuance, while the rest would be secured through a letter of credit or surety bond and paid before occupancy or within four years, whichever comes first.

Secured purpose-built rental housing would continue to receive special treatment. City staff recommend extending the current DCL rental waiver framework to the new ACC. Currently, Class A rental projects that provide 20 per cent of the building floor area at below-market rents can receive a 100 per cent waiver on city-wide and area-specific DCLs, while Class B rental projects with rents at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) average rents for newer rental buildings can receive an 86 per cent waiver. All rental housing projects would still pay the utilities DCL.

City staff note that these rental waivers have become increasingly significant. Over the past five years, Vancouver has waived an average of $23 million per year in DCL revenue, equal to 18 per cent of average annual DCL revenue. In 2025 alone, foregone DCL revenue reached $36 million, or 23 per cent of the city’s $154 million in DCL revenue. City staff assert that their waivers helped financially nudge more than 8,500 secured purpose-built rental homes reach construction over the past five years, including about 1,200 below-market rental homes.

Another major change would be the end of Vancouver’s standalone “Public Art Policy for Rezoned Developments” for new applications submitted after Sept. 30, 2026. Instead of requiring many large rezonings to provide public art directly or pay cash-in-lieu, the City would fund civic public art through the ACC-supported arts, culture, and social facilities program. But developers could still choose to provide on-site artwork voluntarily, on an in-kind basis.

City staff note that there is already about $25 million in secured public art contributions from approved rezonings, which would continue to support the public art program as the new ACC system ramps up.

Potential changes to the Northeast False Creek Plan, which depends on the demolition of the viaducts

Notably, the area of the Northeast False Creek Plan will be exempt from the new ACC for now. This community plan, catalyzing high-density residential and commercial developments — largely on the Plaza of Nations and the remaining Concord Pacific site — and new and improved public spaces, depends on the demolition of the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts.

Although the plan was approved in 2018, the components driven by the developments have not moved forward, starting with the high cost associated with demolishing the viaducts and building a new replacement surface-based road network. From the outset, the major developments in the area were expected to fund these costs.

City staff note that they are now working with the Northeast False Creek landowners on possible updates to the Northeast False Creek Plan and its public benefits strategy to help unlock development. The ACCs exemption will remain in place until that updated plan is completed, with City staff expected to report on the exemptions and changes to the plan sometime in 2027.

The Plaza of Nations redevelopment received rezoning approval in 2018, but it has gone back to the drawing board for more density and height and changes in use, following a change of ownership in 2023. In early 2025, Concord Pacific submitted a rezoning enquiry outlining its more ambitious concept for its adjacent development parcel.

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