Mayor Ken Sim Passes Bylaw Eliminating Parking Minimums and Legalizing Six-Storey Mass Timber

VANCOUVER — Mayor Ken Sim and Vancouver City Council voted 8-3 on Monday to approve the most comprehensive zoning and development bylaw overhaul in the city's modern history, completely eliminating mandatory off-street vehicular parking minimums for all new residential and mixed-use construction and establishing as-of-right zoning for six-storey mass timber multiplexes on standard residential parcels citywide.

The regulatory reform, spearheaded by Mayor Sim's ABC Vancouver majority under the "Building Faster Vancouver" initiative, removes decades of restrictive municipal planning bylaws that added tens of thousands of dollars in construction costs per housing unit for underground concrete parking structures.

Slashing Construction Costs and Unlocking Missing-Middle Housing Urban planning economic studies conducted for the City of Vancouver revealed that constructing mandatory underground parking stalls added between $65,000 and $100,000 to the construction cost of every single apartment unit, pricing young families and renters out of the market while discouraging transit-oriented development near SkyTrain stations.

"Vancouver is one of the most desirable cities in the world to live, but outdated, bureaucratic zoning rules have made housing unaffordable for generations of young people," Mayor Ken Sim said at Vancouver City Hall. "By eliminating arbitrary parking mandates and legalizing beautiful, sustainable six-storey mass timber multiplexes across our residential neighborhoods, we are slashing tens of thousands of dollars off the cost of building new homes, cutting red tape, and making it dramatically easier for builders to construct housing for middle-class Vancouverites."

Key Provisions of the Enacted Bylaw Under the modernized zoning framework:

• Zero Parking Minimums: Eliminating mandatory minimum parking stalls for all residential housing developments, while maintaining mandatory requirements for accessible disability parking and secure bicycle storage rooms.
• As-of-Right Six-Storey Mass Timber: Permitting prefabricated mass timber multiplexes up to six storeys (20 meters in height) on standard residential lots without requiring lengthy individual spot rezonings.
• Rapid 60-Day Permit Processing: Establishing a fast-track administrative approval pathway for builders utilizing pre-approved mass timber architectural designs.

Urban housing advocates, local architects, and sustainable builders praised the historic municipal reform, noting that ending parking minimums encourages walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods while accelerating sustainable timber construction across Vancouver.