It Shouldn't Take an Election Year for Council to Listen to Residents, Says TEAM for a Livable Vancouver

Rejection of Villages Plan a last-minute step in the right direction

VANCOUVER (July 29, 2026) – TEAM for a Livable Vancouver congratulates the thousands of residents who helped defeat the fatally flawed Villages Plan – and promises they’d never have to do that under a TEAM-majority City Council.

That’s because TEAM would turn the autocratic, top-down system that generated the Villages Plan upside down. Instead of imposing unpopular initiatives on its citizens, TEAM would consider residents valuable resources, consulting them on proposed changes, and working with them to achieve their widespread support and acceptance.

This system would take the pain out of public hearings. Hundreds of citizens would not have to line up for days to voice their objections, and thousands would not have to write letters of opposition, as happened with the Villages Plan.

TEAM sees the Villages Plan – and the public hearing that accompanied it – as evidence of a system that does not work for residents, and needs a drastic overhaul.

It’s a pity it took a “tsunami” of objections to open Council’s eyes to the plan’s flaws. But would that have happened without the threat of an election in three months? And if those same councillors are re-elected, will they decide it’s a good idea once again?

TEAM appreciates that all the councillors – except OneCity’s Lucy Maloney – backed away from this ill-conceived and poorly carried-out proposal. Most cited the very words that opponents used to argue against the same plan that council had ordered staff to expedite in 2023. The result is 18 months of extremely expensive wasted time and effort.

A Council operating on the premise that residents matter would have asked them about the Villages Plan first.