Strategic Priorities for the 2027-2023 Capital Plan – where did they come from?

On Wednesday, City Council will be considering a motion entitled: “Back to Community: Establishing Strategic Priorities and Consolidating Council Direction for the 2027–2030 Capital Plan.” This lengthy proposal seeks to set out Council priorities for investment in renewed and new community amenities.

We’re all for investing in civic amenities, be it community centres, libraries or other public spaces — but when we reviewed the motion we noted some concerns — which we shared in a letter to Council.

In particular, it is unclear how the lists of projects outlined in the motion were identified — especially given the considerable work already undertaken by various City departments to identify priorities. Our key message: the motion should more clearly link to previous and concurrent City public benefit strategies, capital and facilities planning work — or present a clear and evidence-based rationale for deviating from these already approved directions.

We then provided a few examples to illustrate the disconnect — but just to be clear, we think all the lists outlined in the motion deserve more scrutiny.

1. The five Community Centres identified in part (i) of the motion only partially align with the list of renewal priorities set out in Vancouver’s Community Centre Strategy. The motion omits Renfrew and Thunderbird Community Centres (despite the fact that both were part of a recent area planning process), elevates Dunbar Community Centre (last on the VCCS list), and includes the Roundhouse (which wasn’t deemed a renewal priority at all!)
2. It’s unclear what is meant by “exploring alternative funding models” for Britannia Community Centre. The renewal of this facility has been going through starts and stops for over a decade.
3. The motion names the Collingwood VPL branch, but is silent on why it’s being selected over four other 10 year priorities identified in the VPL Facilities Plan.
4. The Gastown funding appears to only covers part of two interconnected aspects of the proposed Gastown Public Space Plan – focusing on Maple Tree Square, while leaving Water Street for a later plan (wouldn’t it be more efficient to undertake these together?).
5. The proposal is entirely quiet on proposed Granville Street public realm improvements, the expanded renewal of pop-up plazas, and further connective enhancements to Fraser River public spaces (to name just a few other worthy projects) – even though each of these has been discussed with enthusiasm and/or identified as priorities in City policy.

We concluded with a request of Council: please press pause on the current motion, direct staff to review the priorities list considering existing City strategies, previous facilities planning, etc., and return to Council with an updated list of priorities for consideration.

The intention of funding renewed and new amenities is laudable – but let’s make sure the list is grounded in previously approved (and entirely commendable) priority-setting work!