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After the first full year of duplexes being legalized across 99 per cent of Vancouver’s low-density residential neighbourhoods, city staff have reported a “modest level of uptake” in the building type but strong public support.

A new staff report responds to council’s request in late 2018 for a report on duplex zoning after the 2019 trial period, recommends no further changes so the duplex regulations remain in place.

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The duplex zoning was approved by Vancouver’s previous Vision-majority council in September 2018, near the end of their last term in office, and it drew considerable backlash from some corners at that time. A guest op-ed in The Vancouver Sun described the duplex zoning as part of a “Chainsaw Massacre,” warning of the inflated land values that would accompany such a rezoning.

But the staff report, on this week’s council agenda, says there has not been an increase in land value following the introduction of duplexes in “RS-zoned areas,” the lower-density neighbourhoods dominated by detached houses which make up most of Vancouver’s residential land. Instead, the assessed value of detached residential properties in Vancouver declined by 11 per cent between 2018 and 2019, says the report, citing “a range of factors including municipal, provincial, and federal policy and changes in the local and global economy.”