Citizen’s Forum: Extremely Tall Buildings

City Council is on the verge of making what may be among Vancouver’s most important decisions in a generation on January 20th, every bit as important as the decision in the 1970s on whether or not to build highways through our city. On that day, Council is prepared to adopt two key policies to permit extreme building heights of 80 storeys or taller on the downtown peninsula, and significantly higher buildings in Chinatown and the Downtown East Side.

CityHallWatch is holding a public forum on Tuesday evening January 11th at the Main Branch of the Vancouver Public Library to help citizens identify and articulate key concerns that staff and Council appear to have missed and should address before any vote on this new direction for the City.  Issues that have not yet been adequately addressed include not only lost or eroded views, significant view changes from many locations in the City, and major changes to the skyline, but also implications for Vancouver’s livability, sustainability, affordability and gentrification, ecological footprints (buildings and the city), global warming, city infrastructure, traffic and transportation, city finances and taxes, schools, public amenities, seismic safety, fire safety, disaster response, and the very character of Vancouver.

Join the City Hall Watch and Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver for an interactive presentation and Open Space to learn about and build consensus on what this new policy might mean to Vancouver's future. Members from the West End Residents Association, West End Neighbours, and the Carnegie Community Action Project will also be available for comments on their views of this newly-proposed policy.