Vancouver city planners have split a stretch of East Hastings Street into four areas to guide future housing developments.

The corridor starts from Clark Drive on the west, where towers of up to 18 storeys are envisioned, according to the proposed Grandview-Woodland community plan.

Buildings decrease in height as the elevation of Hastings Street increases on the way east toward Burnaby. At the other end of the stretch, at the intersection with Kamloops Street, the current limit of four storeys will be maintained.

A block west of Kamloops Street, at the intersection of Hastings and Nanaimo streets, six-storey developments may be allowed.

If approved by council, the community plan will contain the areas of Hastings Plateau, Hastings Slopes, Hastings Hilltop, and Has­tings Village.

Grandview-Woodland resident Jak King told the Straight by phone that provisions for taller buildings at Hastings Plateau, from Clark Drive to Commercial Drive, were expected.

Overall, according to the civic watchdog, the building heights indicated in the plan, currently the subject of public consultations, are lower than initial suggestions made by city planners back in 2013.

Three years ago, Hastings Village, from Templeton to Kamloops streets, was eyed for developments of up to eight storeys.

Last year, a citizens’ assembly submitted recommendations for a Grandview-Woodland plan. According to a city staff report, the group proposed buildings of up to 15 storeys on Hastings Street between Clark Drive and McLean Drive. The assembly also suggested that 20-storey developments could be considered on the north side of Hastings in this section.

Patricia Barnes, executive director of the Hastings North Business Improvement Association, is pleased that future residential developments will have commercial spaces at street level.

According to Barnes, the presence of shops where people can pop in and interact with each other is good for the community.

“That creates vibrancy and that energy and that ability for small businesses to succeed,” Barnes told the Straight by phone.

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City staff will host an open house about the Grandview-Woodland community plan on Saturday (July 9) at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre (1607 East Hastings Street), from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.