The upcoming sale of the Pearson-Dogwood lands by the Vancouver Coast Health Authority, the British Columbia Building Corporation, and other provincially controlled bodies is another sad chapter in the lesson about how to destroy an opportunity to create affordable living in Vancouver.

BCBC and other provincial bodies are the registered owner of 25.4 acres of land on Cambie Street, between 57th and 59th Ave in Vancouver. Since 1985 the City of Vancouver has had an option to purchase these lands (registered on title since 1985). The City of Vancouver could exercise this option and add the land to its Property Endowment Fund. It has decided not to do this.

Alternatively, the province and the city could partner on provincially owned land to build rental housing stock which, because the land is without cost to the province, could provide a large and deep rental pool and the nucleus of a community for young families close to the SkyTrain and across the street from a golf course.

Instead, the city has foregone the choice to buy the property and the province has decided to sell it to the highest bidder. The next step is according the city’s current playbook. The city will allow the land to be up-zoned to maximize its density. The city will insist on receiving development contribution levies (DCLs) for infrastructure costs. The city will also “negotiate” the payment by the new developer/owner of community amenity contributions (CACs) to provide for a variety of negotiated benefits such as libraries, public art, perhaps a park or two, and the like. It is expected that the city will demand CACs of approximately 75 percent of the increased value of the land as result of the rezoning.

That is a critical mistake. The rezoning will increase the value of the land spectacularly, and the only way that the developer will be able to maximize its profit (which developers do) will be to build high rise condominiums with good views and fancy interiors. Since the average holder of an undergraduate degree in Vancouver earns $41,000 per year according to Statistics Canada, she and her young family will not be able to afford to buy, or live in these condos. They will be marketed to people from elsewhere, or to people from Vancouver who do not intend to live in them.

If the province and the city could partner in a rental development with human scale buildings and rent values which reflect the cost of construction rather than the cost of construction and land value, there would be a large and steady cash flow into the provincial (and civic) coffers over the life of these buildings, which could pay for libraries, parks, and even the odd public statue or two.

The bids for the purchase of the Pearson-Dogwood property close at the end of October and the “winning” bidder will likely be announced after the election on November 15 but before the end of the year. Unless of course, the current civil administration is defeated and replaced with a council which is more willing to help Vancouverites find an answer to the lack of affordable rental housing in the city.