Oakridge Park developers ask City of Vancouver to ease parking and transportation requirements

The property owners and developers of the Oakridge Park mixed-use complex are asking the City of Vancouver to scale back several transportation commitments, including the scope of public transit subsidies for residents of the development and the fleet sizes for car share and e-bike share, while eliminating minimum vehicle parking requirements.

The first phase of the new shopping centre — specifically, the indoor mall and the Time Out Market food hall — and a significant portion of the rooftop public park opened in May 2026. Residents are expected to begin moving into the project’s first residential towers by early 2027, while a 100,000 sq. ft. City of Vancouver-owned and operated civic centre (community, cultural, and recreational facilities, and a major new space for Vancouver Public Library’s Oakridge branch) and social housing tower are expected to be ready in sometime in the first half of 2027.

Altogether, the first five towers now approaching full completion — including the social housing tower — will contain about 700 strata market ownership condominium homes and 180 social housing units. As well, there will be about 700,000 sq. ft. of office space, largely located within the base podiums of the four condominium towers.

Other major tenant openings since the mall’s late spring opening entail the August 2026 opening of the flagship Safeway grocery store, spanning over 50,000 sq. ft. in an underground level. Additionally, in September 2026, just in time for the new school year, Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) opened its 70,000 sq. ft. campus at Oakridge Park.

This is the single-largest development in the history of the city.

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According to a new application to amend the zoning’s text on stipulations, the revisions would bring Oakridge Park’s obligations for handling its transportation demand closer to the municipal government’s newer approach to vehicle parking and encouraging alternatives to driving.

The project’s parking rules originated in rezoning negotiations in 2012 and 2013. Although subsequently amended, those requirements have become difficult to follow across the project’s multiple construction phases and development permits.

It also argues that Oakridge Park’s existing package of transportation incentives exceeds what the City now requires of other developments.

Vancouver City Council approved the elimination of minimum vehicle parking requirements across the city in June 2024. However, under the previously approved rezoning, Oakridge Centre follows parking requirements that were created well before that citywide policy change.

For future residents, some of the most noticeable proposed changes would be how public transit and private car share benefits are distributed.

Currently, the project’s agreement with the City requires reimbursing each residential user for a one-zone monthly TransLink public transit pass for two years after occupancy. Under the proposed changes, the reimbursement would instead cover one monthly pass per home over the same two-year period. That would reduce the benefit available to households with more than one public transit user.

Similarly, the required $200 monthly credit for the development’s private car share service would shift from each residential user to each home. That benefit would also continue for two years after occupancy.

A separate requirement to provide a total credit of $1,000 for the public car share program over two years would be eliminated.

The developers are also seeking smaller car share fleets.

Current obligations call for 42 private car share vehicles and associated parking spaces in the first phase, increasing to 70 vehicles when the entire development is complete. The proposed changes to the first phase requirement would be one vehicle and parking space for every 40 homes, capped at 22 vehicles. Additional vehicles for later development would be determined through future development permits, taking existing demand into account.

For the public car share service, the application proposes five vehicles and parking spaces for the portions covered by the first six approved development permits — down from the current requirement for 10. Future additions would be tied to usage of the vehicles already available.

Another proposed change would remove the obligation to supply a shared electric-bike fleet. The existing formula requires one e-bike for every 32,300 sq. ft. (3,000 sq. metres) of non-residential floor area, which the application estimates would amount to approximately 77 e-bikes for the first phase.

The developers also want to remove a requirement for 300 additional secure bike parking spaces. Those spaces were intended to provide backup capacity when the development’s automated bicycle storage silos are unavailable. The application otherwise proposes retaining the existing bike parking standards, including the residential requirement for at least 1.25 secure spaces per home.

For future phases, the developers propose submitting reports on actual bike parking usage with each development permit application, with additional spaces provided if demand exceeds 85 per cent of capacity.

On vehicle parking, the application would remove the minimum number of regular parking spaces required for residential and non-residential uses. Existing requirements for accessible parking and residential loading would remain. Removing the minimums would give the developers greater flexibility over how much parking to provide.

Previously, Oakridge Park’s planned vehicle parking stall count was pegged at 6,000 for all residential and commercial users and visitors, including 2,000 free vehicle parking stalls on a three-hour limit basis for mall visitors within the first two underground parkade levels.

The application also asks the City to formally recognize the development’s approach of keeping residential vehicle parking separate from condominium ownership as part of its transportation plan. This has been described as the “unbundling of residential parking to strata lot ownership.”

“The Oakridge Owner opted to not sell residential parking stalls and instead decoupled the sale of parking spaces from residential units offering parking on a membership basis. This has allowed buyers to realise savings on a residential purchase should parking not be required, while also allowing for future flexibility of the parkade areas if rates of car ownership decrease,” reads the application.

According to the application, the project’s owner has retained most of the P3 residential parking level instead of selling its spaces with individual homes. Residents can opt into a valet parking membership, dropping off their vehicles at designated locations and requesting their return through a smartphone app.

This arrangement is intended to enable homebuyers who do not need parking to avoid purchasing a space. It also gives the operator flexibility to accommodate residential and commercial parking demand at different times of day.

As part of their case for revising the requirements, the developers point to the on-site transportation improvement investments they say have not been credited toward Oakridge Park’s existing obligations.

For the first time, QuadReal Property Group and Westbank — the property owners and developers — have revealed the value of the largely privately funded project to expand and upgrade SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station.

Upon full completion in early 2027, this Canada Line station directly serving Oakridge Park will feature a completely rebuilt and expanded street-level subway entrance — with a new roof offering greater weather protection, a wider staircase, a new elevator, and the installation of two additional escalators, which will increase the number of escalators reaching street level to three and enable the operation of escalators that move in both the up and down direction. Previously, the station only had one up escalator to street level; like most Canada Line stations, it did not have a down escalator.

Additionally, the developer is providing Oakridge-41st Avenue Station with a second entrance — an additional entrance accessible from an underground retail-lined mall corridor, which will lead to the indoor mall’s north atrium.

The application also reveals that additional fare gates will be installed at this station to help accommodate future ridership growth.

The private development has provided about $25 million for the Oakridge-41st Avenue Station’s overhaul. The only public funding received for this station project is $2.2 million from TransLink, specifically to help cover the cost of the two additional escalators for the street-level entrance. Construction on the station overhaul first began in September 2024.

Although the station overhaul directly benefits the Oakridge Park complex, it also directly serves the broader area beyond the property, with the City’s Cambie Corridor Plan calling for the high-density, mixed-use transformation of many city blocks in the area into the Oakridge Municipal Town Centre. Over the years to come, the station’s ridership is expected to grow substantially, with growth over the last few years driven by TransLink’s 2020 launch of the R4 41st Avenue RapidBus between the University of British Columbia campus and SkyTrain’s Joyce-Collingwood Station.

The R4 RapidBus has quickly become TransLink’s second busiest bus route, just behind the 99 B-Line.

The application also highlights the installation of Oakridge Park’s automated secured bike storage silos that allow users to store and retrieve their bikes through an entrance at ground level, along with space and infrastructure for the Mobi by Rogers bike share service.

After the first phase of the redevelopment reaches full completion in 2027, attention is expected to turn to the second phase — a vacant lot along the western edge of the 28-acre property. The second phase is expected to entail a mix of uses, including additional homes and additional retail/restaurant space, but within an outdoor mall configuration. Physical models of the overall Oakridge Park complex suggest the developers may be looking at pursuing greater residential density for this second phase.

You might also like:
• 'A Safeway unlike any other': Inside Oakridge Park's newly opened 50,000+ sq. ft. flagship grocery store
• This dead-end Oakridge Park mall corridor will soon funnel thousands of people past fast food and service-based businesses daily
• Colourful nighttime lighting transforms Oakridge Park's giant mushroom sculptures
• Big area of Oakridge Park mall's 7.5-acre rooftop urban public park opens
• An in-depth look inside the new Oakridge Park, the rebirth of Vancouver's second major mall