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Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

One of Vancouver’s new councillors introduced her first motion this week, but by the time council voted to approve it after a fellow councillor amended it, she was the only one to vote No.

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NPA Coun. Colleen Hardwick’s motion sought to reconsider a bylaw approved in September by the previous council that rezoned 99 per cent of the city’s so-called single-family neighbourhoods to allow duplexes.

Housing advocates had welcomed that so-called duplex bylaw as overdue, and as a small step toward adding more housing options to the low-density neighbourhoods that make up most of Vancouver’s residential land.

But, on Thursday, Hardwick called the duplex bylaw “a lingering hangover from the last regime.”

She said she isn’t opposed to duplexes, but had concerns about the lack of “meaningful consultation” with neighbourhoods before the last council allowed duplexes.

Senior city staff said the new council cannot vote — now — to repeal the duplex bylaw. If council decides to ban duplexes in the neighbourhoods where they’ve recently been allowed, the rules call for a public hearing first.