Vancouver may change ‘view cones’ to make room for housing

Beautiful mountains, sky, and a city of glass. 

That is what many would call an iconic view of the Vancouver skyline from Cambie Street. But some taller buildings could pop up in front of it in the coming years, and in front of several other views of the mountains, as city council considers big changes to Vancouver’s so-called protected ‘view cones.’

View cones were made in the ‘late 1970s to keep buildings from being built too high and blocking the view of the North Shore mountains. But in the following decades, those changed as the growing population needed more space.

Stuart Smith is with Abundant Housing, which advocates for building more housing in Vancouver, and he says city staff’s suggestions for new views may add more living space in the future. 

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Besides the lovely view from Cambie Street, the mountain view from Commercial Drive and the view from Main Street in the heart of Mount Pleasant could change. 

But Smith says the city needs to turn around — literally from North to South – to see where the city should point its priorities, especially as it struggles from a lack of housing. 

“To me, the number one priority is not evicting anyone. To me, the priority is, where is the density of tenants the lowest? And we know where that is – it’s south of 16th Avenue, it’s west of Arbutus,” he explained.

“But the view cones, largely are forcing us to consider the exact opposite of that. … The view cones tempt us to believe that the problems are over here.”

Vancouver city council is expected to discuss the view cones on July 10.