Not just NIMBYs: Sager calls Province’s housing targets impossible

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West Vancouver’s mayor says his municipality needs constructive solutions along with “serious transit planning” if housing targets set by the provincial government are to be met.

In an interview with North Shore Daily Post, Sager called the directives issued by the housing ministry with a deadline of the end of this year “impossible,” adding that, while there is the perception that the community is “full of NIMBYs,” West Vancouver council wants to work with the province to create needed housing.

“We’re anxious to find housing solutions for the people that work for the municipality, for the people that work in the businesses in our community,” he said before his first meeting at the current Union of BC Municipalities convention in Victoria, which he is attending with members of council.

Sager’s Sept. 15 letter to Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle was written in response to the minister’s letter demanding that the municipality meet three specific directives related to its failure to achieve provincially set housing targets. Included are the directives to amend its Official Community Plan bylaw to increase density in the Park Royal-Taylor Way area as well as provide for increased density in the single-family and duplex prescribed areas adjacent to Ambleside and Dundarave.

Sager said these proposed changes to zoning are putting potential buyers off getting into the market and that there is now “this speculation” that any single-family lot in B.C. could potentially be divided into six homes. “Unfortunately, all of this talk about six plexes … that’s created incredible uncertainty as to what the future of a community might look like,” he added.

Should the directives not be met by the end of the year, the letter from Minister Boyle stated that she intended to recommend that the relevant bylaws would be amended or enacted on the district’s behalf by the province. According to Sager, every community should be concerned if the province decides to “mandate these things from Victoria without respect for the local communities.”

He pointed to the cancellation of an affordable housing complex on Clyde Avenue at Taylor Way by the developer, blaming the implementation of housing targets. Sager said the owner “pulled the permit” because they believed the zoning would “increase beyond what we approved because of the actions of the minister.”

He added that, had the province not introduced housing targets, the project would likely be under construction. “We have enough zoned land to create more than enough housing, but it’s up to the market to determine when they actually get built,” he said, adding that he has never seen the real estate market as “soft” as it is currently.

Sager also noted that the council approved the Cypress Village plan, adding that it will create enough housing to “more than surpass” the minister’s targets above the Upper Levels Highway. “The reality is we’ve created a complete new community, well thought out, well designed. And it will be well built with all kinds of amenities that people will love,” he said.

Beyond zoning concerns, the major issue impacting the building of any new housing in his municipality, according to Sager, is transit infrastructure.

He said that input is needed to properly address the impact of increased rider demand in West Vancouver and surrounding communities because the situation is “critical.” “There are thousands and thousands of people who work on the North Shore but choose to live somewhere else,“ Sager said, adding that they come from all over the Metro Vancouver area.

What is a regional transit issue is beyond the ability of a local municipality to deal with alone, he said. When asked if he was getting help, Sager’s answer was no despite the reality that “anybody that has been on or off the North Shore, any day of the week knows that it is gridlock from literally 2 o’clock in the afternoon.”

He also referenced the “dramatic” increase in ferry traffic and the growth in the Sea to Sky corridor. “It’s time to have proper transit, getting people from Squamish, Britannia and these other places down to the North Shore,” Sager said.

According to a TransLink spokesperson, TransLink’s recently passed 2025 Investment Plan will help the transit system expand to maintain the service needed for population growth over the coming years. “We will continue to advocate for further funding to expand transit through our next investment plan, as transit expansion alongside population growth is critical to the prosperity of the region,” they said.

The minister’s office confirmed that Sager and Boyle will meet on Thursday afternoon. Sager said he hopes the minister is open to discussing other options and will agree that “her mandated actions don’t need to happen.”