One of the initiatives I’m most pleased with during my time on City Council was a request for a study in 1996 to examine the possibility of higher buildings on those sites not crossed by view corridors. My concern was that with a standard height limit within zoning districts, the city would bench out – a flattened skyline of glass towers. Why not, I argued, a skyline that reflected the mountains, a skyline of peaks and valleys?
Eventually Council approved the possibility for towers to exceed the downtown height limits on seven locations in the CBD. (It’s been amended a few times since then, as reported here.)
A decade or so later and we can see the results:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/chinas-property-bubble-echoes-subprime-crisis/
Talk about Vancouver’s peaks and valleys . . .
Have a nice day!
But then you have sites with view corridors that will end up looking like this
(Main Post Office redevelopment):
https://i2.wp.com/www.vancitybuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/canada-post-redevelopment-5-984×500.jpg
Image: Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership / Bentall Kennedy
http://www.vancitybuzz.com
Sadly, the Bay Parkade site (adjacent to the ticketing hall of Granville Station (which is under Seymour St.) and should be a major TOD) is also similarly limited in height.