No plan to explore turning Vancouver golf courses into housing: Park Board

Langara Golf Course. (Vancouver Park Board)

During Monday’s public meeting, Vancouver Park Board commissioners unanimously approved a planning process to improve its network of City-owned golf course facilities, and optimize its golfing operations and services over 10 years.

This is a direction to create a plan to further improve the business model for the golf courses through the intensification of their uses for the sport, and in turn generate more revenue.

The Park Board operates six golf courses across Vancouver, which represents a total land area of 494 acres or 15% of all Park Board-managed areas — about 1.65% of the city’s total land base.

This includes the three 18-hole championship golf courses of McCleery and Fraserview along the Fraser River, and Langara on Cambie Street near the Oakridge area, as well as the three pitch-and-putt courses of Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, and the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood’s Rupert Park.

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The use of the City-owned golf courses has increased significantly in recent years, rising from between 225,000 to 255,000 rounds played annually before the pandemic to well over 300,000 annually in 2021 and 2022.

Gross revenues across all of the facilities reached over $14 million in 2022, representing a 40% increase from 2019, with nearly $6 million in net revenues directed towards the Park Board’s general budgets for operations and maintenance at non-golfing parks and recreation facilities. Golf operations were the Park Board’s highest revenue-generating activity, followed by recreation admissions and pay parking.

vancouver park board golf course location map

Map of City-owned golf courses in Vancouver. (Vancouver Park Board)

Annual usage of City-owned golf courses in Vancouver. (Vancouver Park Board)

But the discussions on long-term improvements for these golfing facilities renewed some longstanding debate over whether golf courses are an optimal use for public lands, with some housing advocates specifically suggesting the development of Langara Golf Course into housing is appropriate. Over the years, others have even suggested developing the Park Board’s golf courses on the Fraser River or maintaining the current golfing uses to preserve the ability to create more general public park uses in the future.

Jeff Cutler, the principal of landscape architectural firm Space2Place, urged Park Board commissioners to consider repurposing only Langara Golf Course through development, given its central location and adjacency to SkyTrain Langara-49th Avenue Station.

“What is the best use of public golf course land? Is this an equitable use of public space? The suggestion here is not sell off all of our golf courses,” said Cutler during the public meeting, describing his idea of dividing the 114-acre Langara Golf Course into three equal parts for market housing, social housing, and a public park.

He suggested the portion of the lands set aside specifically for market condominiums could potentially generate well over $1 billion in revenue for the municipal government, with the revenue from land sales then directed to improve parks and recreation facilities across the city.

Cutler’s idea is not entirely new. It was also floated at several occasions in the 2010s by the previous Vision Vancouver-led City Council and Park Board, including by then-Mayor Gregor Robertson, who proposed downsizing Langara Golf Course into a nine-hole executive golf course to accommodate other recreational uses and possibly even housing.

And it would not be the first time Langara Golf Course saw downsizing for other uses.

Map of Langara Golf Course. (City of Vancouver)

Installation of new drainage at Langara Golf Course. (Vancouver Park Board)

Langara Golf Course was originally owned and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1926. This golf course was previously much larger, with its northernmost perimeter reaching right up to the edge of West 49th Avenue.

In the 1970s, the golf course’s 18-hole layout was reconfigured to enable a downsizing of the facility to accommodate the construction of Langara College, Langara YMCA, a large townhouse neighbourhood, and Langara public park. Instead of reaching West 49th Avenue, the extent of the golf course footprint retreated south to West 51st Avenue. The Park Board acquired the golf course from the CPR in 1973.

In recent years, a 5.6-acre parcel of the townhouse neighbourhood with 11 buildings containing 42 units has been listed for sale for its redevelopment potential into high-density market residential uses, but there have been no takers to date. Over the years, the YMCA of Greater Vancouver has also been floating the idea of redeveloping Langara YMCA with new replacement and expanded community and recreational facilities, and rental housing towers.

Catalyzed by the City’s Cambie Corridor Plan, the area is experiencing densification, including around the vicinity of Langara-49th Avenue Station. By 2040, over 50,000 additional residents are expected to live within the area plan.

Two of the corridor’s largest neighbourhood-sized redevelopments are also located immediately to the west of Langara Golf Course on Cambie Street, including Onni Group’s Pearson Dogwood project and Concert Properties and Peterson Group’s Langara Gardens project. Upon full buildout, both high-density, tower-based redevelopments on a combined area of 46 acres will produce over 5,500 new homes for well over 10,000 additional residents.

The area will also see more post-secondary institutional uses, with the major expansion of the Langara College campus. Over the long term, the campus will grow from 815,500 sq ft to 1.45 million sq ft of floor area with the construction of five new buildings, which will enable Langara College to increase its enrolment by thousands of students.

langara estates one vancouver redevelopment

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Langara Estates One redevelopment for marketing illustrative purposes only. Not the actual form of development. (CBRE)

Artistic rendering of the new Langara Family YMCA. (Endall Elliot Associates / YMCA of Greater Vancouver Properties Foundation)

Langara Gardens 7051 Ash Crescent Vancouver 2023

2023 revised artistic rendering of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver, with Pearson Dogwood also depicted. Langara Golf Course is the large green highlighted area on the left side of the rendering. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

langara college campus expansion vancouver

Layout of the future campus buildings at Langara College. (Langara College)

Just prior to the pandemic, in late 2019, the previous makeup of Park Board commissioners directed Park Board staff to “evaluate the full spectrum of realized and unrealized benefits of Park Board land currently used for golf.” But this is no longer the direction.

During the public meeting on Monday, Park Board staff made it clear that their forthcoming golfing facility plan will not consider the redevelopment of any golf courses, and that such a direction to expand the constraints of the planning exercise would need to be initiated by the Park Board commissioners.

This very idea was panned by Park Board commissioners.

“Can we avoid further radio interviews and media personalities that say we should put housing there?” said Green commissioner Tom Digby.

“We’ve been encouraged tonight to do the math of the financial value we can gain by creating market and social housing at Langara Golf Course, but I think that’s a deeply false equation of math. We in this city have always prioritized biodiversity… the green space is more than all of that combined.”

ABC commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky suggested that any land sold for development could instead counterproductively go into the municipal government’s general revenues, as there is no guarantee that it would be directed into the parks and recreation system. He also added that “this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves as a city why the Park Board exists.”

“It was created specifically to protect our green spaces. There’s a line between the green space and the developers. The City Council and Mayor are responsible for housing. The pressure is on them to change zoning, view cones, and all of the other barriers that are in place. We are all poorer if we lose this green space, regardless of what kind of money we can make from it,” continued Bastyovanszky.

ABC commissioner Jas Virdi said there are other measures the City can take to increase housing supply within the current constraints of existing buildable lands, including densifying around SkyTrain stations and improving the municipal government’s permitting process.

“Our golf courses are a vital source of biodiversity. They are huge pollinator corridors. They provide our elderly and children with outdoor green space to play. It’s good for their physical, social, and mental well being, and I think they are huge assets to the city,” said Virdi.

ABC commissioner Scott Jensen added, “I appreciate the green space. That becomes the lungs of our city… to remove that paradise is not something I would want to be part of.”

Installation of new drainage at Langara Golf Course. (Vancouver Park Board)

Langara Golf Course. (Vancouver Park Board)

This past summer, the Park Board fully completed its multi-million dollar investment in improving Langara Golf Course’s usability during the wet periods of the year by installing 83 km of new drainage across the facility — a big fix for the deficiencies of the 1990s renovation design. Park Board staff state the drainage improvements have already attracted more golfers to this particular golf course.

In terms of specific ideas to improve the golf courses for their intended sporting use, former NPA commissioner Tricia Barker told the current commissioners she would like to see improved accessibility for seniors, with suggestions such as golf carts designed for people with disabilities and on-site lockers for long-term golf club storage.

Bastyovanszky suggested there is currently untapped revenue with liquor sales, and a need to improve the comfort of golfers by reducing the mosquito populations at some of the facilities. But the idea was swatted away by Digby, who said he is “pro mosquitoes” for the diets of the birds and bats.

“If you want to address the [mosquito] problem, dress for the problem,” quipped Digby.

Over the long term, two privately-owned and operated golf courses in Vancouver could potentially be eyed for development into housing.

It has been known for many years that the long-term future of Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club on the Fraser River in South Vancouver is uncertain. The 67-acre golf course, known for hosting PGA-affiliated and other high-calibre professional tournaments, is on land owned by the Musqueam First Nation, and the private club’s lease for the property is set to expire by the early 2030s.

The Musqueam First Nation also owns the 120-acre University Golf Course, which has a covenant that requires its continued use as a golf course until at least 2083.

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