Vancouver's new council holds first regular meeting Tuesday, with tenant-rights bylaw and Gore Avenue park on agenda

Vancouver's newly elected council holds its first regular meeting on Tuesday, November 17, at 9:30 a.m., under an agenda revised and published on November 13. The new council was sworn in on November 2, with Green Party member Pete Fry becoming the city's first Green mayor and the Greens and COPE forming a progressive majority. (File photo: Vancouver City Hall.)

Gore Avenue stretch to become permanent park

One agenda item would close about 0.286 hectares (0.706 acres) of road at the corner of Gore Avenue and Union Street and designate it as a permanent park. The site at 722 Gore Avenue was previously proposed as a firehall annex and would instead become parkland.

Seymour Street hotel rezoning withdrawn

A rezoning application for 852-872 Seymour Street has been withdrawn. It proposed rezoning the site from the downtown district to a comprehensive development district to allow a 15-storey hotel with 151 rooms. City staff recommended refusal, noting the lot is only 19 metres wide and would sit just 11 metres from a neighbouring residential building, well short of the 18.3-metre minimum intended to protect privacy, daylight and livability.

Tenant-rights bylaw: report due by end of Q1 2027

Councillor Sean Orr has tabled a motion asking staff to report back by the end of the first quarter of 2027 on a standalone universal tenant-rights bylaw, including universal vacancy control, a right of return and like-for-like replacement units. The motion signals that tenant protection is a priority for the new council.

Finance committee meets Wednesday on capital budget

The Standing Committee on City Finance and Services meets on Wednesday, November 18, with an agenda including quarterly adjustments to the 2023-2026 Capital Plan (an additional C$39 million), the annual financial authorities for 2027, and 11 council members' motions, several of which would reverse or revisit decisions of the previous council.

The new council was elected on October 17: the Greens hold the mayor's office and four seats, COPE holds four seats, and OneCity and ABC hold one seat each. The votes at the first regular meeting will be the first indication of how the new majority intends to govern.