At the Strategic Committee on Policy and Standing Priorities meeting on July 10th, Council repealed the City’s View Protection Guidelines, and approved new Public Views Guidelines. This has resulted in the removal of 14 public views, amendment of 11 public views, and reduced the number of origin points to 16.  

New Solar Access Guidelines for Areas Outside of Downtown were also approved. This has established a single, consistent approach to evaluating shadow impacts on approximately 85% of the City. Previously, there were 15 different adopted shadow impact strategies city-wide, six downtown and nine in outlying areas, plus several other unofficial approaches established through site specific approvals. It should be noted that Council directed City staff to report back on the impacts of changing the solar access timeframe from 10am to 4pm PDT to 10am to 2pm PDT from the spring through fall equinoxes (both for the Solar Access Guidelines for Areas Outside of Downtown, and the review of solar access in public spaces in downtown currently underway), by Q1 2025. 

The report by City staff did not make recommendations to amend residential tower floorplate guidelines, rather confirmed that current policy and practice permit flexibility in certain instances which support achieving other City priorities. This includes modest tower floorplate relaxations (i.e., increases of approximately 10% over the defined maximums) on a case-by-case basis, with more substantial increases considered for proposals meeting one of the following objectives:  

• Support delivery of on-site public amenities; 
• Facilitate transit infrastructure integration; 
• Support mass timber construction and innovative green building design; 
• Support Reconciliation and Indigenous led projects; 
• Facilitate inclusionary social housing projects; or 
• Support compliance with solar access and/or public views policies 

The Citywide Development Guidelines workplan includes detailed analysis of residential tower floorplate guidelines for emerging directions such as anticipated Vancouver Building By-Law accessibility requirements. 

Where in-stream Development Permit or Rezoning Applications seek revisions, they will be assessed on a case-by-case basis to minimize disruptions to permitting timelines where possible. Significant design revisions may, however, require resubmission. City staff have assessed in-stream and recently approved Rezoning applications and estimate a possible impact in the range of 10-20 proposals. These may require drawing revisions and potentially a few CD-1 by-law amendments. Currently, the major impact appears to be the lower portion of the Queen Elizabeth View Cone in the Broadway Plan area. 

The final recommendations that were approved with amendments, can be referenced below: 

• Repeal the View Protection Guidelines (1989, last amended 2023) and approve the Public Views Guidelines, resulting in the removal/redefinition of: 
• Public View: A – Alder Terrace to redefine the east (right) boundary of the view cone to align with the western edge of the tower at 1008 Cambie Street; 
• Public View: C1, C2.1, C2.2 – Laurel Landbridge be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View: E1, E2.2, E3 – Cambie Bridge be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View E2.1 – Cambie Bridge be renumbered to E – Cambie Bridge, and redefine the northwest (left) boundary of the view cone to align with the southern tip of Northeast False Creek sub-area 6B (Plaza of Nations); 
• Public View: F1.1, F1.2, F1.3 – Choklit Park be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View G1.1 – Olympic Village Pier be renamed to G1 – Olympic Village Pier, and redefine the east (right) boundary of the view cone to align with the eastern-most edge of the building at 375 Main Street (‘Ford Building’), and the lower boundary of the view cone to align with the lower boundary of view cone G1.2; 
• Public View G1.2 – Olympic Village Pier be renamed to G2 – Olympic Village Pier, and redefine the west (left) boundary of the view cone to align with the western-most edge of the tower at 188 Keefer Street; 
• Public View J1.1 – Creekside Park be renamed to J1 – Creekside Park, relocate the public view origin point to the pedestrian path at the north end of the Creekside Park lawn adjacent the north pillar, redefine the east (right) boundary to align with the eastern-most edge of the building at 27 W Pender Street, and redefine the lower boundary to align with the roof level of the building at 48 W Hastings Street; 
• Public View J1.2 – Creekside Park be renamed to J2 – Creekside Park, relocate the public view origin point to the pedestrian path at the north end of the Creekside Park lawn adjacent the north pillar, redefine the west (left) boundary to align with the eastern-most edge of the building at 333 Carrall Street, and redefine the lower boundary to align with the lower boundary of view cone J1.1; 
• Public View 3.1, 3.2.4a – Queen Elizabeth Park be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View 9.1 – Cambie Street origin point be relocated to the ‘Walking Figures’ pedestrian plaza behind Broadway-City Hall Canada Line station, redefine the west (left) view cone boundary to align with the eastern-most edge of the building at 1128 W Georgia Street (‘Shangri-La’), redefine the east (right) view cone boundary to align with the western-most edge of the tower at 1133 Melville Street (‘The Stack’), and redefine the lower view cone boundary to align with the roof level of the tower at 1055 W Georgia Street (‘Royal Centre’); 
• Public View 9.2.1 – Cambie Street be renamed to 9.2 – Cambie Street, and relocate the public view origin point to the ‘Walking Figures’ pedestrian plaza behind Broadway-City Hall Canada Line station, redefine the west (left) view cone boundary to align with the eastern-most edge of the building at 1038 Canada Place (‘Pacific Rim’), redefine the east (right) view cone boundary to align with the western-most edge of the tower at 425 W 6th Avenue, and redefine the lower view cone boundary to align with the roof level of the building at 485 W 8th Avenue (‘The Rise’); 
• Public View 12.1 – Granville Bridge be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View 20.1 – Granville Street be renamed to 20 – Granville Street, redefine the west (left) boundary of the view cone to align with the eastern-most edge of the anticipated Sen̓áḵw towers, and redefine the lower view cone boundary to align with the uppermost extent of the English Properties in West Vancouver; 
• Public View 20.2 – Granville Street be removed from the list of Council-approved public views; 
• Public View 21 – Commercial Drive be redefined so the west (left) boundary of the view cone aligns with the northeast corner of the site at 2485 Commercial Drive, and redefine the east (right) view cone boundary to align with the east curb line of Commercial Drive and redefine the lower view cone boundary;  with City staff instructed to publish revised Public Views Guidelines as altered to reflect these changes. 
• Approve the Solar Access Guidelines for Areas Outside of Downtown, with consequential amendments related to solar access in policy documents. City staff instructed to report back on the impacts of changing the solar access timeframe from 10 am to 4 pm PDT to 10 am to 2 pm PDT from the spring through the fall equinoxes by Q1 2025; 
• Direct City staff to initiate a comprehensive review of solar access in public spaces in downtown neighbourhoods and assess the impacts of shadow policies on the delivery of housing and jobs space, and report back with a balanced solar access strategy for downtown as part of the Citywide Development Guidelines. City staff instructed to report back on the impacts of changing the solar access timeframe from 10 am to 4 pm PDT to 10 am to 2 pm PDT from the spring through the fall equinoxes by Q1 2025; 
• Direct City staff to initiate a comprehensive review of Council-approved public view ‘12.2’ (Granville Bridge), including potential new view origin point(s) as part of the Granville Street Planning Program, and report back with consequential amendments to the Public Views Guidelines at the conclusion of the Granville Street Planning Program; 
• Direct City staff to initiate a comprehensive review of Council-approved public views at Trout Lake and undertake public consultation to identify updates to these views, including but not limited to new view origin point(s), in response to the Council-approved Transit-Oriented Areas Rezoning Policy, and report back with recommended updates to the public views (Trout Lake) and consequential amendments to the Public Views Guidelines in 2025. 

More information can be found in the full report by City staff.