Jericho Coalition ends non-partisan position, endorses TEAM for a Livable Vancouver candidates Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott for City Council in April 5 by-election as only candidates opposing massive Jericho Lands luxury high-rise development as proposed in the Official Development Plan

VANCOUVER — The Jericho Coalition today announced it is ending its previous non-partisan position on municipal politics and endorsing TEAM for a Livable Vancouver candidates Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott for City Council in the April 5 by-election for two seats.

The grassroots Jericho Coalition says TEAM’s Hardwick and Abbott are the only candidates in the by-election who oppose the massive Jericho Lands luxury high-rise development as currently proposed in the City’s Official Development Plan due for a single Council public hearing and vote on April 15 only, for the entire development. TEAM has also opposed the 500-block Broadway Plan that is displacing thousands of renters from affordable, low-rise housing and replacing it with expensive high-rise towers.

“The Jericho Coalition has asked all parties in Vancouver to oppose the massive 13,000 unit luxury skyscraper development proposed on the Jericho Lands, with towers up to 49-storeys, and instead consider our alternative low and mid-rise plan that would emphasize needed affordable and family-friendly housing – but no party except TEAM is remotely interested in even discussing alternatives, let alone implementing them,” said Susan Fisher, Jericho Coalition spokesperson.

“Unfortunately, ABC Vancouver, One City and the Green Party are all in on the disastrous Jericho Lands proposal from the MST Development Corporation – despite the huge and growing problems we already see with the city’s Broadway Plan displacing renters and demolishing existing low-rise affordable housing,” Fisher said.

“We are very pleased to endorse TEAM’s Colleen Hardwick – who fought the Broadway Plan as a City Councillor previously – and Theodore Abbott – as the only candidates who will listen to the Jericho Coalition and other neighbourhood groups who are opposed to giving big developers the keys to the city,” Fisher said.

“From the outset, we determined that the Jericho Coalition would be non-partisan. We did not endorse any candidates in the provincial election or the previous municipal election. We had a singular goal: to stop the massive luxury high-rise plan for the Jericho Lands and to convince the developers and the city that something better could be built on this unique site,” Fisher says.

“It didn’t have to become a sea of unaffordable concrete towers; it could become an exemplary development of low- to mid-rise, affordable, livable, more environmentally resilient buildings.

Of course, the City has not listened to us or the thousands of citizens who share our concerns. And its ‘build, build, build’ strategy does not apply just to the Jericho Lands. The current Broadway Plan is on track to devastate neighbourhoods across the city, even though there is zero evidence that all the development permits being issued will result in more affordable housing,” Fisher says.

“That’s why the Jericho Coalition has decided to endorse the only two candidates who share our concerns: Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver. Colleen and Theodore oppose the Jericho Lands Official Development Plan and the Broadway Plan. They will stand up for residents’ rights to be consulted about the future of their city,” said Fisher.

The Jericho Coalition commissioned a Vancouver-wide public opinion poll in late 2023 that showed that 72 per cent of respondents wanted City Council to reject the proposed Jericho Lands high-rise development with density three times greater than the City of Hong Kong and multiple towers up to 49-storeys, with 13,000 units for 28,000 residents. The poll, conducted by national firm Forum Research, also found that over 70 per cent of respondents said the Jericho Lands proposal was too tall for the Jericho Lands area, which borders on several of Vancouver’s best-loved beaches, including Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks.

The Jericho Coalition has proposed an alternative plan with low and medium-rise buildings constructed with wood and mass timber instead of the MST proposal of 60 mostly concrete and steel towers. The alternative would see 7,200 units in courtyard buildings for about 16,000 people at a human scale, with more green space – with 72 per cent of poll respondents supporting the concept.

The Draft ODP for the Jericho Lands is at: syc.vancouver.ca/projects/jericho-lands/jericho-lands-draft-official-development-plan-feb2025-info-session.pdf

Website: with polling & alternative plan at: www.JerichoCoalition.org
TEAM website: https:www.voteteam.ca

Background

The Jericho Coalition, a group of concerned citizens opposing the current proposal for the Jericho Lands, consists of community members, including architects, engineers, planners, and environmentalists, who believe there is a better, more livable and environmentally friendly way to develop the Jericho Lands site which better aligns with the accepted and approved guiding principles for this project.

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