Coriolis was selected by a group of cooperating agencies, including Metro Vancouver, TransLink, BC Housing, and Van City Credit Union to identify strategies to increase the amount of new rental housing constructed in locations with high transit service. The study identifies the market and financial barriers that are limiting the amount of rental construction and explores the potential to address these barriers with zoning, cost reduction, creative financing, and other levers.

The City of Burlington, Ontario is experiencing an increase in market interest in redevelopment to create new higher density residential projects, in part because of strong housing price growth in the GTA. The City asked Coriolis to help it increase its capability in analyzing how much new density is needed to make redevelopment financially viable and in using provincial legislation to obtain public benefits that address the needs and impacts of new development.

Coriolis is working with TransLink on the evaluation of potential new innovative strategies for funding future investment in rapid transit infrastructure.

Coriolis is working with several municipalities, including District of North Vancouver, New Westminster, Victoria, Squamish, and Vancouver, to refine density bonus and CAC policy in the light of the recently published Provincial guidelines for CACs.

Coriolis assisted the District of Mission in the creation of a package of incentives to encourage mixed use redevelopment in the historic Downtown.  Drawing on this experience, Coriolis has been approached by several other small communities, including Sechelt and Harrison Hot Springs, regarding tools that local government can use to help encourage redevelopment and densification in older commercial districts.

Coriolis is working with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to develop a capital funding strategy for public realm work and infrastructure that will make downtown Fort McMurray more attractive for high density residential development. The project is exploring the potential for tax increment financing, off-site levies, and strategic land sales as ways to fund parks, civic facilities, and servicing.

Coriolis and Toderian UrbanWORKS  teamed up to prepare a comprehensive density bonus study for the City of North Vancouver. The study helped the City improve its policies and practices in granting additional density in exchange for community amenities. The study included identification of good practices based on a review of all metro Vancouver municipalities and other major cities in Canada.

Jay Wollenberg, President of Coriolis, was chosen by BC Homes magazine as one of the 20 most influential people in residential construction and development planning in BC. He was nominated because of his extensive involvement in residential development policy in many BC communities.

The City of Vancouver won a 2012 Award for Planning Excellence from the Canadian Institute of Planners. In accepting the award the City noted the role of Coriolis in helping to determine appropriate residential density and establish an approach to community amenity contributions for rezoned properties.

The District of North Vancouver’s new OCP identifies four town centres for the development of high density residential use.  Coriolis helped develop strategies for rezoning, density bonusing, and community amenity contributions to assist in the creation of community facilities and public realm improvements to enhance these nodes.

Victoria, BC

Coriolis helped the City of Victoria design a new density bonus system as part of a new plan for Downtown Victoria. The objectives of the density bonus system included encouraging residential and office densification in downtown, creating new amenities to make downtown more attractive for residents and businesses, and providing incentives for the restoration of heritage buildings.