Vancouver mayor submits motion to cut back on some climate bylaws for the sake of affordability
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has submitted a motion to City Council to cut back on some of the City’s bylaws that are designed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.
The motion will be discussed at a May 20 council meeting, asking staff to review some of the City’s housing and energy regulations, which include the Vancouver Building Bylaw and the Energize Vancouver Program.
It also asks staff to try to align the Vancouver building bylaw closer to the B.C. building code.
The motion calls for city staff to pause the Energize Vancouver bylaw implementation, which is a “city-wide initiative to reduce building emissions through energy tracking, annual reporting and support programs,” since buildings contribute to nearly 60 per cent of Vancouver’s Greenhouse gas emissions.
It required owners of large existing buildings to submit to the City energy and carbon reports each year, documenting things like their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. It also set in place specific limits on GHG emissions from metered natural gas and heat energy.
The motion also calls to repeal a bylaw enacted in January of this year, which encourages the electrification of water heater replacements.
Sim’s rationale inferred by the motion is that Vancouver is “consistently ranked among the most unaffordable housing markets in the world.”
“Even modest percentage increases in construction costs can translate into
significant increases in rents and home prices, particularly in a high-cost market
such as Vancouver, compounding affordability challenges for residents.”
It adds that stakeholders from the plumbing, heating, and cooling industries have said that “limiting options for water heating will increase costs to residents and hurt affordability.”
It says that Vancouver is the only municipality in B.C. that has a standalone building code, rather than adopting B.C.’s building code, which thus requires developers to adapt projects specific to Vancouver.
The motion further calls for any divergence from B.C.’s building code to include “a transparent justification, including quantified cost impacts and a clear explanation of the public benefit achieved.”