Vancouver view cone changes create 215 million sq ft of floor area

Proposed Vancouver view cone policy relaxations could enable up to 215 million sq ft of additional building floor area for housing and job space

2024 amendments to Vancouver's view cone policies (public views). (City of Vancouver)

No, that figure is not a typo.

Select relaxations to the City of Vancouver’s strict view cone policies — which currently limit the height and shape of buildings to protect northward views of the North Shore mountains and southward views of Vancouver City Hall — could enable additional development capacity of between 108 million sq ft and 215 million sq ft of building floor area for market housing, rental housing, affordable housing, office space, hotel uses, retail/restaurant space, entertainment space, institutional space, and other uses.

That is the preliminary estimate of potential additional building floor area made by City of Vancouver staff based on their analysis of the potential impact from their proposed amendments to the view cone policies. This would be the most significant policy change since the View Protection Guidelines were first formalized in 1989.

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The upper end of the potential additional development capacity, 215 million sq ft of building floor area, is equivalent to 179 Olympic Village neighbourhoods, 143 Bentall Centre office complexes, 430 Telus Garden office towers, 326 Living Shangri-La towers (Vancouver’s tallest building), 54 Senakw rental housing developments, 332 Hudson Bay Vancouver flagship store buildings, or 121 Metropolis at Metrotown shopping malls.

It is estimated that between 5% and 25% of the lots that will gain view cone relaxations will be redeveloped within the next 30 years.

City staff have outlined their proposed view cone policies changes to Vancouver City Council, which will be deliberated in a meeting scheduled for next week.

vancouver view cone sign false creek seawall

Views of the mountains on a cloudy, rainy day from View Cone D emanating from Heather Bay on the False Creek South seawall. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Although the amendments would have a huge impact on housing and economic development, the changes would still leave the 1989 view cone policies largely intact.

Currently, based on the 1989 view cone policies and subsequent additions over the decades, there are 38 public views, each originating from one of 18 origin points from a public space. The proposed 2024 Public Views Guidelines would reduce the number of public views by 14, from 38 to 24, amend 11 public views, and reduce the number of origin points by two for a total of 16.

Maps of existing 1989 view cone policies, with previous amendments:

vancouver view cones public views guidelines map 1989

1989 view cone policies, with previous amendments included. (City of Vancouver)

Map of new 2024 amendments:

vancouver view cones public views guidelines map 2024

2024 amendments to Vancouver’s view cone policies (public views). (City of Vancouver)

“This work was undertaken to identify views which may have changed over time, which no longer capture their intended subjects, or which have inaccessible vantage points. This includes instances of permanent obstructions, either partially or fully, or having limited access for public enjoyment,” reads a City staff report.

“The work and recommendations presented in this report attempt to strike a pragmatic balance between supporting the delivery of housing units, job space, and hotel rooms while ensuring Vancouver continues growing as a liveable, equitable and vibrant community. These should be viewed not as mutually exclusive, but as complimentary city building objectives. In addition, they support City priorities to simplify and streamline the approvals process by right-sizing development and design requirements with clear and actionable criteria.”

Removal of the underside of Queen Elizabeth Park view cone

The single most significant change would be a partial relaxation to View Cone 3.0 emanating from the designated public viewpoint of the North Shore Mountains atop Queen Elizabeth Park, next to the Bloedel Conservatory. This would enable greater height on 2,998 lots across 2.5 sq km of land within portions of the Cambie Corridor, Central Broadway, Southeast False Creek, Northeast False Creek, and the Downtown Eastside.

Such changes to View Cone 3.0 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park would enable up to 107 million sq ft of additional building floor area, accounting for half of the upper end of the new total potential development capacity. The average change of potential building height would be 115 ft, with some sites seeing up to 41 storeys in potential added height.

View Cone 3.0 changes would be particularly beneficial for enhancing the sites within the Broadway Plan near SkyTrain’s Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations.

2024 changes to View Cone 3.0 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park. (City of Vancouver)

Opening up the West End

The second most impactful change would be the relaxation to View Cone 20.0, emanating from the intersection of West Broadway and Granville Street — the location of SkyTrain’s future South Granville Station — to protect mountain views.

View Cone 20.0 would be narrowed due in part to Squamish Nation’s Senakw towers entering the existing western boundary of the view cone, and the lower boundary would be raised in height to align with the uppermost extent of British Pacific Properties’ mountainside residential developments on the slope of West Vancouver.

These changes to View Cone 20.0 would impact 597 lots on 0.6 sq km of land, overwhelmingly within downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood, and open up the potential for up to 21.1 million sq ft of building floor area. The average height increase would be 100 ft, with some sites seeing up to 21 storeys in potential added height.

Further north of the intersection, three of the four protected mountain views emanating northwest from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge would also be repealed. This would be a removal of view cones 12.1.1, 12.1.2, and 12.1.3 crossing over the West End, including a portion of the existing St. Paul’s Hospital campus. The removal of these three view cones would increase the development potential of 123 lots on 19 acres, increasing the potential additional building floor area by up to 2.5 million sq ft and creating an average maximum height increase of 89 ft. But View Cone 12.2, which directly goes above Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, would be retained.

2024 changes to View Cone 20 emanating from the intersection of Granville Street and West Broadway. (City of Vancouver)

2024 changes to View Cone 12 emanating from Granville Street Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

view cone 12 granville street bridge map 2024

2024 changes to View Cone 12 emanating from Granville Street Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

View cone changes at Vancouver City Hall

The third biggest change for its impact on development capacity is the amendment to View Cone 9.0 emanating from Cambie Street in the areas of West 10th and West 12th avenues — immediately adjacent to Vancouver City Hall. This is accomplished by relocating the origin point of the view cone to the existing pedestrian plaza with the “Walking Figures” sculptures next to the Broadway-City Hall Station entrance building, as opposed to the current origin point in the middle of the Cambie Street roadway. As well, this view cone’s boundaries would be narrowed by using the existing Living Shangri-La, The Stack, Royal Centre, Fairmont Pacific Rim, and The Rise as the physical markers for reframing the boundaries.

Such major changes to View Cone 9.0 would enable up to 13 million sq ft of additional total building floor area on 326 lots across 0.5 sq km of land, with an average change of potential building height of 66 ft and height increases of up to over 30 storeys.

This would be particularly beneficial for transit-oriented development near Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations and select sites within the downtown Vancouver peninsula, including the Central Business District, North False Creek, and Northeast False Creek. A small number of lots would also see significant maximum height cuts by as much as over 20 storeys.

view cone 9 cambie street vancouver city hall 2024 map

2024 changes to View Cone 9.0 emanating from Cambie Street next to Vancouver City Hall. (City of Vancouver)

Opening up transit-oriented development

View cones of the mountains that currently impact two of SkyTrain’s busiest stations would see a shifting of their location.

The origin point of View Cone 22 is currently at the intersection of Main Street and Kingsway. This would be shifted slightly to East 6th Avenue, with its boundaries narrowed. In the process, the changes would increase the building floor area potential by 2.5 million sq ft on 59 lots across 16 acres of land, with an average height change of 110 ft and a maximum increase of up to 21 storeys for some lots. Such changes would be particularly beneficial for sites near Main Street-Science World Station, as well as the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr and Mount Pleasant stations.

A bigger origin point shift would occur for View Cone 21, which currently emanates from Commercial Drive near the intersection with East 14th Avenue. Instead, its origin point would be relocated to the intersection with East Broadway — immediately adjacent to Commercial-Broadway Station.

Shifting the origin point and changing the boundaries of View Cone 21 would enable 6.2 million sq ft of additional building floor area near the transit hub and within other locations in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood. It would impact 728 lots on 0.4 sq km of land, with an average change of potential building height of 43 ft and up to 10 storeys for some sites.

2024 changes to View Cone 22 emanating from Main Street near Kingsway. (City of Vancouver)

2024 changes to View Cone 21 emanating from Commercial Drive. (City of Vancouver)

Removing view cones covered by trees and structures

The view cones that would be completely eliminated entail view cones C1 and C2 emanating north from the Laurel Landbridge (pedestrian overpass above West 6th Avenue), view cones E1 and E2.2 emanating north from the middle of the Cambie Street Bridge towards the mountains, View Cone E3 emanating south from the middle of the Cambie Street Bridge towards City Hall, View Cone F1 emanating north from Choklit Park in Fairview, and View Cone 12.1 emanating north from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge.

The recommendation to eliminate view cones C1, C2, and F1 is driven by the fact that the protected mountain views from the origin point are completely blocked by trees, bushes, and other vegetation.

The removal of the view cones C2 and C2 from the Laurel Landbridge would open up 2.9 million sq ft of building floor area potential while axing View Cone F1 from Choklit Park would open up 2.2 million sq ft.

2024 elimination of View Cone C emanating from the Laurel Landbridge. (City of Vancouver)

2024 elimination of View Cone F from Cholit Park. (City of Vancouver)

The rationale for removing View Cone E1 is that the spires of BC Place Stadium’s roof already intrude into the existing view cone, while View Cone E2 severely limits Northeast False Creek’s development potential. The amendments would enable 1.85 million sq ft of additional building floor area for View Cone E1 and 2.8 million sq ft for View Cone E2.

The removal of View Cone E3 would better enable transit-oriented development around Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations, including the potential Vancouver City Hall campus redevelopment.

Another notable change is the relocation of the origin point for View Cone J emanating north from Creekside Park near Science World. As the current origin point is obstructed by trees, bushes, and the playground structure, the origin point is relocated closer to the north end of the park. This would result in a net gain of 1.3 million sq ft of building floor area within Gastown, Downtown Eastside, and Railtown, with height limit reductions for areas in Chinatown. This change could benefit the future Army & Navy department store redevelopment.

Some relatively minor changes to View Cone H from the main plaza of the Olympic Village could also open up further development potential in the Downtown Eastside.

view cone e cambie street bridge map 2024

2024 changes to View Cone E emanating from the Cambie Street Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

2024 changes to View Cone J emanating from Creekside Park. (City of Vancouver)

Taller heights for “Exceptional Downtown Sites”

It is also made apparent that View Cone B emanating from the False Creek South seawall at Charleson Park would remain unchanged for policy purposes. No changes are planned for View Cone D emanating from the False Creek South seawall at Heather Bay, which is partly obscured by the masts of the sailboats in the marina in front of the origin point.

However, City staff are recommending some major special exceptions that would enable new building developments to enter view cones B, D, 3.0, and 12.2 (emanating from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge). Such exceptions would be provided for large site areas — so-called “Exceptional Downtown Sites” — of at least 1.98 acres, such as the future 6.6-acre redevelopment of the existing St. Paul’s Hospital campus in the West End and the potential future redevelopments of the city block largely occupied by the Hudson’s Bay’s parkade, the six-acre Westin Bayshore Hotel property on the Coal Harbour waterfront, and the Yaletown city block entirely occupied by SAP Canada’s office building.

Such large-site redevelopments with taller building heights intruding into the view cones should have a mix of uses — including affordable housing, commercial uses, and hotel and/or office space — and community amenity spaces, as well as extensive publicly accessible open spaces and a pedestrian-oriented public realm.

“There are select major development sites in the downtown with the potential to contribute to strategic and transformative city-building, playing an instrumental role in the continued evolution of Vancouver’s downtown peninsula as a great place to live, work, visit and play,” reads City staff’s report.

“Qualifying developments should demonstrate leadership in architectural and sustainable design, with all site and building design elements reflecting a cohesive, innovative concept. Particular consideration should be given to lower building levels that define the pedestrian realm, and tower crowns which will become visible elements of the downtown skyline.”

The 6.6-acre campus of the existing St. Paul’s Hospital on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver’s West End. The existing hospital will close in 2027, when the new hospital campus in the False Creek Flats opens. (CBRE)

In addition to contending with view cone policies, building developments have had to consider building shadowing guidelines, which have acted to further reduce potential building heights and forms to reduce shadowing on public parks, plazas, retail streets, and major intersections.

City staff are now proposing to simplify the Solar Access Guidelines to minimize building shadowing during the spring and fall equinoxes from 10 am to 4 pm, which standardizes the approach first taken with the Broadway Plan. This single, consistent approach to evaluating shadowing impacts would apply to 85% of Vancouver’s land area, as opposed to the current approach that highly varies based on location. This would specifically apply to areas outside of the downtown Vancouver peninsula, where there are currently 15 different City policies regulating solar access.

Future reforms for building shadowing guidelines within downtown Vancouver will be considered in the future.

Additionally, City staff are recommending City Council’s approval to perform further comprehensive reviews to further refine the view cone and building shadowing policies, including reviews of the view cones emanating from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge — potentially a relocated origin point — and from Trout Lake in relation to its impact to the provincial government’s designated Transit-Oriented Area around SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station.

City staff note that their building development floor area estimates reflect the order of magnitude and suggest further refinement in the future to account for current improvements on the lots, the condition or value of any existing buildings, or other development policies that may otherwise limit or shape the development on these parcels.

City staff are amending the view cones and building shadowing policies following previous direction from Vancouver City Council. If approved, this would be one of the most significant changes to Vancouver’s development policies not imposed by the provincial government in decades.

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