The Globe and Mail - 13.03.2020

FRIDAY,MARCH13,2020| THEGLOBEANDMAILO REALESTATE| H3

A

t a small lecture hall at Si-
mon Fraser University’s
downtown campus a cou-
ple of weeks ago, adjunct urban
design professor Scot Hein began
his remarks by noting, half-jok-
ingly, that there was a hostile au-
dience seated before him.
“Not all of us!” shouted one
man.
The man was one of the few
non-golfers in attendance for the
presentation titled: Golf Courses
or Housing & Parks?
Mr. Hein was there to speak
about a proposal that he and co-
author, University of B.C. profes-
sor Patrick Condon, had un-
veiled last fall. Their idea is to
convert the three city-owned golf
courses into properties that are
half park and half housing, start-
ing with Langara Golf Course.
They say that the publicly owned
land would best be used to ad-
dress the city’s affordable hous-
ing shortage.
As it happens, the Vancouver
Park Board is reviewing options
for Langara Golf Course, which is
bounded by Cambie Street to the
west, West 58th Avenue to the
south, Ontario Street to the east
and West 49th Avenue to the
north. Last year, the board voted
to green light a report on the
cost benefit and public use of the
120-acre course. This year it will
hire a consultant to conduct a
study and the public engage-
ment process should get under-
way by the end of the year, ac-
cording to Park Board commis-
sioner Dave Demers. Mr. Demers
also spoke at the event, in favour
of keeping the land as park land
but looking at other recreational
options for it.
Mr. Hein and Mr. Condon
hope to gain enough public sup-
port so that housing will be in-
cluded in the review of Langara
Golf Course. In a phone inter-
view, Mr. Demers said that the
Park Board is not considering it.
“It just so happens that [their]
idea and the promotion of the
idea overlaps with the process
that we just started at the Park
Board,” Mr. Demers said. “That
said ... there is nobody at parks
who will consider housing on
the park land that we have,
which includes the golf courses.”
The 18-hole golf course on the
south side of the city was the
province’s first public golf
course, built in 1926 by the Cana-
dian Pacific Railway, which also
built Shaughnessy. The city also
owns Fraserview and McCleery
golf courses, totalling about 450
acres of land (it also owns a cou-
ple of smaller “pitch and putt”
golf centres). There are four pri-
vate golf courses in Vancouver
and 93 golf courses in Metro Van-
couver, according to Mr. Hein.
It isn’t the first time the idea
to nix golf at Langara has been
floated. In 2018, then-mayor Gre-
gor Robertson introduced a mo-
tion to approach the Park Board
with the idea of turning the golf
course into sports fields. And
golf courses have come under
the gun of late in other Canadian
cities and throughout North
America. When former Toronto
chief city planner Jennifer Kees-
maat ran as a mayoral candidate
in 2018 she proposed converting
some city golf courses to recre-
ational spaces that would be

open to the public for free.

Judging from the packed

room full of golfers at SFU, the

golfer community is ready to put

up a fight against any proposal

to reduce or replace the fairways.

In his argument for housing

development, Mr. Hein un-

packed some compelling statis-

tics. He listed several mid-densi-

ty projects, including 12-acre

Quilchena Gardens with 1,500

people; 15-acre Arbutus Walk,

with 4,400 people; 15-acre Olym-

pic Village with 2,500 people;

and 136-acre False Creek South

with 6,000 people. All were ap-

proximations, he added.

At Langara Golf Course alone,

he said, you could create the

equivalent of 10 Quilchena Gar-

dens, eight Arbutus Walks, eight

Olympic Villages and one False

Creek South.

“That gives some scale to the

conversation,” he said. “By not

developing, we are not providing

affordable housing for families,

or for seniors, particularly those

who are over-housed,” he said,

referring to seniors living in big

houses.

Mr. Hein was a senior urban

designer for the City of Vancouv-

er for more than 20 years. He

helped design Arbutus Walk and

he is currently helping the resi-

dents of False Creek South plan

for that community’s future, on

a volunteer basis.

He said the city was falling be-

hind on the housing file in com-

parison to other global cities that

had taken action. Mr. Hein ar-

gued for a mix of non-market

and market rate housing devel-

opment. In an interview, he sug-

gested that selling off some of

the land, combined with leasing

other parcels to developers,

could generate enough funds to

deliver park space to other areas

of the city.

Mr. Condon was one of the

first proponents of filling the

“missing middle,” which means

creating diverse low-scale hous-

ing in walkable neighbourhoods.

In an interview, Mr. Condon said

that he and Mr. Hein were moti-

vated to write the proposal be-

cause the biggest challenge to af-

fordable housing is the high cost

of land. Land is simply too ex-

pensive for a developer to bring

enough affordable homes on-

line, no matter the approved

density.

As well, Mr. Condon said the

golf course had already been

slightly modified in the 1970s,

with the addition of a town-

house complex on the northwest

corner.

But he’s aware too, that the

loss of park land is a touchy top-

ic.

“We knew we would lose

friends over this proposal,” Mr.

Condon said. “But we are frus-

trated that the city is not serious-

ly pursuing scalable and afforda-

ble solutions to what we think is

an existential threat to the city.

We should really do this, or

something similar. It’s not easy,

but then again, the Empty

Homes Tax was considered im-

possible – until it wasn’t.”

Former City of Vancouver

senior urban designer Frank Du-

cote can see both sides of the ar-

gument. There are several bene-

fits to their idea, Mr. Ducote said.

The land is free, “thus signifi-

cantly reducing the cost of devel-

opment, right from the begin-

ning.”

There is no land assembly re-

quired, or immediate impact on

neighbours, as there would be in

a dense neighbourhood.

Because it is close to transit, it

reduces the need and the cost of

underground parking, thereby

reducing construction costs.

Perhaps most significantly, the

housing could be built without

erecting oppressively high tow-

ers.

“With these cost reductions,

the opportunity exists to provide

housing here at a lower scale and

height than many projects today

cannot, while still meeting affor-

dability objectives,” Mr. Ducote

said.

However, he could see the op-

posing viewpoint, too. The Cam-

bie Corridor won’t be fully real-

ized for another couple of dec-

ades, and once fully built out,

thousands of new units will

come online. There are several

large sites underway, including

Oakridge Centre, Pearson Dog-

wood, Heather Lands, Oakridge

Transit Centre and the RCMP

headquarters.

“Many people might not be

fully aware of just how much

change is already proposed,” he

said in an e-mail.

One man in the audience at

the event made the point that

great cities such as Paris and

London have large parks, but

they don’t have golf courses in

the central areas.

Mr. Demers said it’s a slippery

slope, when we start pulling val-

uable park land out of the sys-

tem to make way for develop-

ment. That’s park land the city’s

residents will never get back. He

echoed Mr. Ducote’s comment

that there is enough density on

its way to the Langara area, an

estimated 50,000 additional resi-

dents. It will become a “satellite

downtown core,” he said, and

that new population will need

parks and recreation.

“WhenI hear that we are con-

sidering cutting in half the park

provision we have there – when

we have the new population

growth we are expecting – to me,

that makes absolutely no sense.”

Instead of looking at park

land for housing, why not look to

city-owned properties that are

under utilized, Mr. Demers

asked. The City is the biggest lan-

downer in Vancouver, with hun-

dreds of properties, including

parking lots that could be rede-

veloped.

“With all the population

growth expected, we will also

need places for social gathering,

sports and soccer fields, and so

on. That’s the intention behind

the motion, that we look and

make sure we fulfill the needs of

the population. Whatever the

needs are.”

Park Board commissioner Tri-

cia Barker was also at the event

and took the position that the

golf courses should remain as

they are. Ms. Barker works with

seniors and she argued that gol-

fers tend to be healthier people.

The Langara Golf Course is Au-

dubon certified, she said, which

means it must regularly meet a

standard set of environmental

management criteria.

She pointed out that 30 per

cent of Vancouver is paved.

“If we start to take away the

things that bring a lot to this city,

then we are in trouble,” Ms. Bark-

er said.

In the interview, Mr. Demers

said it’s not his job to decide on

where housing density should

go. But he thinks the question of

housing on park land is a moot

point anyway, because neither

Park Board nor city council

would likely vote to give up park

land, he said. Mr. Demers was

surprised at the level of detail in

Mr. Hein’s presentation, but he

doesn’t think the academics

have thought about the legal

quagmire.

“I’m not sure if [Mr. Hein and

Mr. Condon] foresee the logisti-

cal process involved to do some-

thing like this. It’s pretty much

impossible to remove park land

from the Park Board,” Mr. Dem-

ers said. “It is quite the process,

in terms of the legalities.

“I can’t see a way forward with

this, personally.”

In an e-mail, Mr. Hein said

that the idea for a mix of hous-

ing and park and recreation

needs to be part of the Langara

discussion because it has some-

thing for everyone.

“Can we afford not to ask the

Langara question?” he asked.

It’sgolforhousing–notboth

Thefutureofpublic

coursesinVancouveris

underreview,butmany

fearlossofgreenspace

KERRY
GOLD

OPINION

VANCOUVER

TheLangaraGolfCourse

isoneofthreecity-owned

coursesinVancouver.

Thereisacurrent

proposaltoturnLangara

intoahalf-park,

half-housingdevelopment

thatcouldadddensityto

thearea.

PHOTOSBYDARRYLDYCK/

THEGLOBEANDMAIL

THE ACTIONThe sellers had lived
in the unit. The first-time buyers
were looking for a long-term
home. The deal closed a month
ago. About 15 groups viewed the
property, listing agent Nicolas

Blachette says.

“The majority of people were

local, from Vancouver or the sur-

rounding area, including young

families with small kids who had

been renting,” Mr. Blachette says.

“There were a few investors.”

WHAT THEY GOTThis energy effi-

cient Olympic Village Square

building was built 10 years ago

on the False Creek waterfront.

The top floor, 815-square-foot

unit has two bedrooms, a flex

room, high ceilings and a large

patio.

It is steps away from shops,

the SkyTrain and the water taxi

to downtown. The building has a

gym, pool, hot tub and sauna.

THE AGENT’S TAKE“Our market

switched from a buyer’s market

to a seller’s market for homes

under $1-million,” Mr. Blachette

says. “There is more demand

than supply for this segment of

the market.”

• KERRY GOLD

Vancouvercondoownersfinda‘seller’smarketforhomesunder$1-million’

77WalterHardwickAve.,No.
512,Vancouver
MTPLEASANT

Askingprice:$899,000
Sellingprice:$880,000
Previoussellingprice:$689,000
(2010)
Daysonmarket:21
Taxes:$2,354.95
Maintenancefee:$512
Listingagent:NicolasBlachette,
Re/MaxCrestRealty

DONEDEAL