Dan Fumano: Vancouver aims to discourage single-detached houses by shrinking them

Vancouver city hall is considering changes aimed at discouraging construction of single-detached houses, including a cap on the maximum size of such homes.

For many people, the single-family house is the most desirable housing type, the aspirational ideal. But for others, it symbolizes outdated, unsustainable urban planning.

Much of the public discussion about proposed zoning reforms in Vancouver has focused on the proposals to allow up to six individually titled strata homes on a single lot in low-density residential neighbourhoods.

Now local homebuilders are criticizing another of the reforms, which would discourage single-detached houses by reducing the maximum buildable square footage.

The city’s proposal would mean that on a standard 33 x 122-foot lot, the maximum building size would be 2,400 square feet, about 400 less than currently allowed. A fourplex on the same lot could go up to about 4,000 square feet in total.