HIGH-DENSITY DOOMSDAY PREDICTION PROVED FALSE
Socially mixed False Creek South surpassed expectations to become model community
When False Creek South was proposed in the early 1970s, critics said the plan for a cluster of socially mixed stacked townhouses on former industrial land would lead to a crime-infested slum, inhospitable to families.
Hardly. If you stroll there today through the leafy paths between low-rises and townhouses, it doesn’t feel anything like a slum. And, as a remarkably poised 12-year-old told City of Vancouver councillors this week, it’s one of the city’s most “awesome” areas for kids.
In response, the mayor said he wants to attract more people — especially kids — to False Creek South, which, like many Vancouver neighbourhoods, has seen a drop in the number of families with kids.
Council voted unanimously this week to approve terms of reference for a planning process for the area along the south shore between the Burrard and Cambie bridges, most of which is city-owned.
This sets in motion, after years of neighbourhood engagement, the city’s planning efforts for the next phase of a great Vancouver neighbourhood, one that grew out of controversy into an icon of livability.
In 1972, a Vancouver Sun oped under the headline “Instant Slum” derided the False Creek South plan as far too dense for a viable community, recalled historian John Atkin.
In addition to the high (for the time) density, the neighbourhood’s plan for a “socially mixed community” was unusual in the 1970s. Planners aimed for an income mix reflecting the broader region, combining coops, affordable housing, condos, and more.
In 1974, a member of the False Creek South planning team quit, calling the city’s plan a “blunder of classic proportions,” The Vancouver Sun reported at the time. The unhappy member added he thought the land “was among the very worst spots in Vancouver on which to build a lot of housing.”
But, as construction finished and residents started moving in, the picture changed. By January 1977, a Vancouver Sun headline touted “Life in dreamland on the creek.”
On Tuesday at city hall, 12-year-old False Creek South resident Sirus Grames-Webb told mayor and council: “If you look at False Creek, that’s what a city should look like, it’s the perfect image for planners. ... Ask any kid who lives here, they’ll tell you how awesome our False Creek neighbourhood is. You should make more places in Vancouver like this.”
Maybe he’s right — in a city where most residential land is zoned strictly for single-family houses, maybe they should make more places in Vancouver like the Creek.
Following Sirus’ presentation, Coun. Adriane Carr asked him what kind of home he’d like to live in when he’s older.
Sirus responded that while most kids “want to live in a big mansion,” he’d prefer a co-op.
“I absolutely love the idea of co-ops,” the Grade 7 student said. “A lot of middle-class families can live there, so when I’m older and I have kids that would be kind of a sweet spot.”
Indeed, early on the Creek showed “incredible success” attracting families with children,
according to this week’s city report. By 1981, families occupied 40 per cent of households, greatly exceeding planners’ targets.
But the area’s mix has changed dramatically over the decades, and families with kids now make up only 22 per cent of households, below the city-wide average of 32 per cent.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said he found it “quite alarming to see the drop in the number of families and kids in the neighbourhood. ... We’re seeing that pattern in a number of neighbourhoods across Vancouver, and that’s a key priority for council, to make sure we are building more housing for families and kids.”
Michael Geller, a planner in the CMHC’s Vancouver office in the 1970s, remembers the backlash when he worked on the original False Creek South project. Now a real estate consultant, Geller has been reminded of that backlash in recent years, when Vancouver neighbourhoods have pushed back against city hall’s attempts to increase density.
But he believes more homedwellers are coming around to the idea that more False Creekstyle housing, such as stacked townhouses, spread throughout the region could help improve affordability while creating vibrant, walkable neighbourhoods.
“I think people are ready to accept it now,” Geller said. “Many of the people who opposed new, higher-density housing nine or 10 years ago are now ready to move into it, or their kids are. And that’s the reason I’m more optimistic than I was 10 years ago.”