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March Of The Megahomes

Tony Wanless

| November 4, 2009

Image by: iStock

The march of the megahomes into neighbourhoods means densification is happening. But we continue to ignore it.

Three different articles in one day’s newspaper are a great indicator that the Vancouver region is becoming more efficient in how it houses its population.

Whether it wants to or not.

The first was the regular monthly story about how real estate sales are jumping. It was accompanied by a picture of a giant “house” (multiple bedrooms, multiple garages, etc.) to illustrate an average price of $749,808 for a metro detached home.

Then there was a piece on the situation in Surrey where residents of a neighbourhood filled with the traditional two and three bedroom bungalows were under attack by small developers trying to (illegally, it was alleged) build multi-bedroom and bathroom megahomes.

Finally, there was an article on former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, who has formed a new group to advance one of his mayoral projects – EcoDensity and the densification of communities.
Unrelated? I think not.

What we’re seeing is a lot of people reacting individually to how this region is changing to a city more suited for a time when we have to conserve resources while continuing to grow in population.

In the past 25 years or so, the Vancouver region has doubled in population, and is likely going to double again over the next couple of decades. Yet most municipalities and residents cling to an image of the region as a collection of small towns and cities where everybody lives in a cute house with the proverbial white picket fenced yard.

But that 1960s retro view is an anomaly today. Two million people need to be housed in an efficient manner that doesn’t suck up unlimited amounts of energy and other resources. This causes a tension that’s exploding all over, such as in Surrey, where megahomes are the latest battlefield between preservationists and those who are creating change, albeit uncontrolled and often illegal.

Most municipalities are vaguely aware of this, but are stuck in the same time warp and so attempt to please voters by dancing down the middle. They try to “preserve” neighbourhoods while at the same time turning a blind eye to small-scale higher density development.

Clearly, if the march of the megahomes is any indication, the battle’s already been lost. These supposed “houses” are really small apartment buildings housing several families or residents. Except for a few exclusive areas, most Vancouver city neighbourhoods are filled with these quasi-multiple dwelling spaces. Now it’s taking over other large municipalities.

This is just a modern version of what many older cities in the East allowed a hundred years ago when wastefulness wasn’t an option. They recognized the need for densification, but at least knew enough to manage it to prevent problems.

Here we just pretend we’re still a small town, shut our eyes , and let things happen.

I'll ask you: Are the megahomes a problem or a solution?

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Well, it's all about

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2009-11-04 18:30.

Well, it's all about planning land use. Megahomes are not exactly what people have in mind when thinking about urban density, they are more suited to larger parcels of property in sun urban or rural areas. In addition megahomes in the lower mainland are being utilized for multi family living which in itself is a good example of useful density, however the neighborhood infrastructure must support this type of density. The most obvious problem being parking. As well this type of living arrangement permits multi family living with single family taxes. The idea behind urban density is not to fill up the entire urban footprint with buildings, rather conserve our green spaces and go up! Urban planners have to take into consideration the character of the neighborhood when developing zoning. A more useful solution is changing land use/zoning policies in single family neighborhoods to allow built forms such as town houses.