March 26th, 2024

At Council on March 12th, amendments to the Zoning and Development Bylaw regarding mass timber incentives were adopted. The new incentives available include:

• Ability to increase the number of storey heights for rezonings. This includes an additional two storeys for mass timber buildings in community plan areas that allow eight to eleven storeys, and an additional three storeys in areas that allow buildings of twelve or more storeys. Use and tenure must be consistent with the community plan for that area, and this incentive would only apply in community plan areas with a rezoning policy that allows projects with eight or more storeys. This incentive is not intended to override other City goals, such as sunlight on parks, view cones, or heritage retention;
• An outright increase of 10% in the permitted height for tall mass timber buildings in district schedule areas;
• Provision of pre-application meetings with senior staff from “...the Chief Building Official, Development Planning, and Project Facilitation groups to advise on the supportability of the key mass timber elements,” to help proponents quickly assess whether mass timber would be viable for their projects.

UDI submitted a letter as part of correspondence for the Public Hearing held on February 27th, commending the City for taking leadership on developing policy tools that UDI believes will help support the proliferation of mass timber as a building form in Vancouver.

November 28th, 2023

When the Broadway Plan was adopted last year, Council directed staff to explore incentives to advance mass timber construction. On November 17, staff conducted a consultation on three potential incentives to promote mass timber (see the attached slides).

Please note that the proposed incentives are subject to Council approval (likely in early next year).

Incentive 1 – Increasing the number of storey heights for rezonings. The increases in storey heights would be predefined to simplify the administration of the program. Staff are recommending an additional two storeys for a mass timber building in community plan areas that allow eight to eleven storey buildings, and an additional three storeys in areas that allow buildings of twelve or more storeys. The use and tenure would need to be consistent with the community plan for that area. This incentive would only apply in community plan areas with a rezoning policy that allows projects with eight or more storeys. In addition, the incentives are not intended to override other City goals such as sunlight on parks, view cones, or heritage retention.

Incentive 2 – Providing “… an outright increase of 10% in the permitted height for tall mass timber buildings in district schedule areas.”

Incentive 3 – Providing pre-application meetings with senior staff from “… the Chief Building Official, Development Planning, and Project Facilitation groups to advise on the supportability of the key mass timber elements.” This is intended to help proponents quickly assess whether mass timber would be viable for their projects.

The incentives would apply to hybrid mass timber buildings that met the definition of a mass timber building in the zoning by-law. The City is also concurrently working to improve the permit process for these buildings under the Vancouver Building By-law.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Heather Park.