Beware late change in small print about Broadway towers

In the last draft of the Broadway plan, the City (of Vancouver) made a big deal of reducing the height of towers in residential areas from 25 to 20 stories in response to community concerns.

Now, in the 500-page final plan, released 10 days before council begins discussion, there is a change in the small print (e.g. page 135) that will allow one additional 20-storey tower in residential blocks that already have two 12-storey towers.

A limit of two towers per block has been the standard in these zones. As recently as two months ago, on the Broadway Plan Q&A web page, a city planner assured a questioner that the rule was still two towers per block.

At one of the last open houses focused on the draft plan, I was personally assured by a city planner that this rule would remain in place.

There is nothing about this significant change in the summary that was released along with the plan. Surely, we should expect more honesty and transparency from our city!