New chief city planner has to restore independence to Vancouver office, urban-design consultant says

    1 of 2 2 of 2

      Brent Toderian thinks that the incoming chief city planner of Vancouver will do a good job.

      According to the principal of the Toderian UrbanWorks consulting company, Gil Kelley is an “excellent planner”.

      Toderian recalled that he has met Kelley several times in the past and that they have sat on panels to talk about the future of planning.

      The two were city planning directors at that time. Toderian took that job with City of Vancouver in 2006 and remained in the position until 2012. Kelley was Portland’s director of planning for 10 years until 2009, before he moved on to found his own consulting company. Later, he served as director of city planning for San Francisco until he was hired by Vancouver.

      On September 15, Kelley will start in his new role as Vancouver chief planner and general manager of the city’s new department of planning, urban design, and sustainability.

      “It’s a very good choice,” Toderian told the Straight in a phone interview Wednesday (August 3).

      According to Toderian, the new planning chief needs all the help he can get because of the many challenges of the job, including one key challenge that Toderian believes must be addressed.

      “Vancouver needs to rebuild the intellectual independence of the planning department, and the planning department’s credibility and skills around urban design and public engagement,” Toderian said. “So I think our new chief planner is going to need our support because he has a lot to do to rebuild the positioning and the credibility and the trust for the planning department.”

      Toderian added he believes that an independent planning office is crucial.

      “Having an independent planning department means that the public and all stakeholders can trust that the advice being given is in the best interest of the city…and that it’s not about partisan politics,” he said.

      “One of the most important aspects of the chief planner job is to speak truth to power: to give the advice that council needs to hear, not necessarily the advice they want to hear,” Toderian continued. “And so, there’s been a very long tradition in Vancouver of chief planners who have always given their best independent advice about the future success of the city. If a chief planner or a staff [member] in general has become politicized, then the public and other stakeholders can’t necessarily trust the independence of their advice.”

      In announcing Kelley’s appointment on Tuesday (August 2), city hall identified a number of policies and programs that he will be working on in the near future.

      Those include supporting key priorities named by council such as making Vancouver a green, affordable, and inclusive.

      Toderian said that while those directions are good, there is also a need to "recreate the culture around great planning and design in Vancouver, which has been one of the most important elements in our city-building success".

      “I think city council has to let the planning department re-establish its intellectual and political independence,” he said.

      Former Vancouver director of planning Brent Toderian.
      STEPHEN HUI

      Toderian recalled that when he became director of planning, he recognized that preserving that culture was one of the most important aspects of the job.

      A chief planner “reports to the city manager in an administrative sense, but reports to council in a professional sense”, he said.

      “But here’s the thing,” he added, “every planner has a first responsibility to the public interest. That is in our code of conduct as professionals.”

      Toderian was hired by the city in 2006 during the time of then mayor Sam Sullivan of the Non-Partisan Association. He oversaw the development of policies around the city’s eco-density initiative, the Cambie Corridor strategy, and the laneway housing program.

      Toderian's contract was ended in 2012 under the administration of Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who took over city hall in 2008.

      Asked how the planning department’s independence has been eroded over the years, Toderian begged off, saying “I’m not going into that.”

      Comments