Vancouver council approves plan for future of Rupert and Renfrew neighbourhood, including 10K homes

Lauren Vanderdeen · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 10:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Highrise towers and thousands of caller homes are successful store for an East Vancouver neighbourhood, aft metropolis assembly voted done large changes Tuesday.

Councillors unanimously approved the Rupert and Renfrew Station Area Plan, a land-use program that volition signifier the country present location to astir 31,000 residents.

The recently approved program calls for high-density residential and mixed-use towers up to 45 storeys gangly adjacent the 2 SkyTrain stations and up to 26 storeys gangly further distant from the stations. 

The program estimates it volition present much than 10,000 caller homes to the area, bringing the full fig to 22,400 by 2050, according to a unit study presented to assembly Tuesday. At the aforesaid time, unit say, the colonisation of the country volition turn an estimated 61 per cent to 49,600. 

The program besides features "villages" that volition prioritize missing mediate lodging options, specified arsenic six-storey buildings and multiplex homes.

WATCH | Council approves large neighbourhood plan: 

Josh White, the city's main planner, said the program volition let the assemblage to flourish.

"We person SkyTrain infrastructure that's been successful spot for implicit 20 years now, and [the country is] arguably underdeveloped astir successful presumption of precocious density uses, homes, jobs," helium said.

"And this is an accidental to truly instrumentality vantage of that infrastructure, that large transportation to the remainder of the metropolis and the region."

Around 80 per cent of the households successful the program country unrecorded successful single-family homes, according to the city staff presentation. Only 10 per cent of the area's existing lodging banal is rental apartments.

More than 70 per cent of the colonisation identifies as a disposable minority, according to the report.

Coun. Peter Meiszner said the program volition make a "complete community" astir the Rupert and Renfrew SkyTrain stations that volition let radical to locomotion to section shops and services and support employment lands.

"We've seen tons of improvement successful communities to the east, adding thousands of caller lodging units, and present we're going to spot the aforesaid present successful Vancouver, but it's going to person a distinctly Vancouver flavour," helium said.

"There'll beryllium much unfastened space, there'll beryllium a absorption connected rental and below-market lodging and assemblage amenities."

Still Creek to beryllium widened

The metropolis has included a superior program of $1.2 cardinal for related infrastructure and amenity priorities implicit the adjacent decade, including for Still Creek enhancement, renewal of Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, caller kid attraction spaces, rental housing, water, sewer and drainage, and parks.

Still Creek, 1 of lone 2 salmon-bearing creeks remaining successful Vancouver, volition beryllium daylighted and widened, which metropolis unit accidental volition assistance negociate flood hazard resulting from accrued improvement and clime change.

The metropolis volition besides prohibition gathering underground parking wrong 30 metres of the creek, and underground parkades volition beryllium constricted to 2 levels wrong a larger boundary.

Three sub-areas of the program volition absorption connected employment uses specified arsenic offices, laboratories and hotels, arsenic good arsenic see abstraction for distribution, retention and repair industries. Staff estimation the program volition bring 8,000 jobs to the area. 

Several spots, including the Akali Singh Sikh Society site, Still Creek and Kaslo Gardens co-ops, the Italian Cultural Centre, and Casa Serena, among others, person been designated arsenic "unique sites" that necessitate much focused argumentation that admit an area's circumstantial context. 

White said the metropolis present expects developers to use for rezoning permits to make buildings nether the caller country plan.