{"id":1487,"date":"2025-10-20T15:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/public-backlash-to-gigantic-multiplex-homes-in-burnaby-has-council-scaling-back\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:53:10","slug":"public-backlash-to-gigantic-multiplex-homes-in-burnaby-has-council-scaling-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/public-backlash-to-gigantic-multiplex-homes-in-burnaby-has-council-scaling-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Public backlash to \u2018gigantic\u2019 multiplex homes in Burnaby has council scaling back"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>British ColumbiaThe City of Burnaby is reversing course on parts of its multiplex housing rules, after fielding complaints from residents about the size and scale of the new multi-unit homes in previously single-family neighbourhoods.Mayor says he\u2019s been hearing complaints from residents for monthsLauren Vanderdeen  \u00b7 CBC News  \u00b7 Posted: Oct 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 19Multiplex homes were introduced in Burnaby in 2024, but residents are feeling growing pains as the province and its cities try to build more housing. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)Public outrage over the size of new multiplex homes popping up all over Burnaby, B.C., has convinced city councillors to rein in the rules around what can be built.Multiplex homes in the city will be smaller \u2014 and have more on-site parking \u2014 as a result.Burnaby, a city of about 250,000 residents just east of Vancouver, introduced multiplex housing in July last year, when the province mandated most B.C. municipalities to allow between four and six homes on single-family lots.In a city known for its suburban sprawl, punctuated by pockets of highrise towers, multiplex homes are now allowed on any of Burnaby\u2019s 31,000 previously single-family residential lots.Under Burnaby\u2019s multiplex bylaw, which allows laneway homes, triplexes, quadplexes and cottage courts, builders could have constructed homes up to four storeys.But after a council vote on Tuesday, future multiplexes will be reduced to three storeys, and floor areas will be reduced by 33 to 60 per cent.WATCH | Future Burnaby multiplexes limited to 3 storeys:Burnaby, B.C., scales back multiplex housing program after public backlashSome residents in Burnaby, B.C., are concerned new multiplex homes aren\u2019t fitting into existing neighbourhoods. As Johna Baylon reports, city council has agreed the heights and sizes for future small-scale multi-unit developments should be reduced.The minimum amount of on-site parking developers are required to build has also been increased.\u2018Ugly monstrosities\u2019Tim O\u2019Meara, a Burnaby resident and retired professional engineer, said he only found out multiplexes had been allowed when construction on one started across the street from his home.\u201cEverybody is still stopping and staring at this construction. It\u2019s just extraordinary,\u201d O\u2019Meara said.\u201cThere used to be a small bungalow there, and obviously that\u2019s not probably appropriate in today\u2019s age, but what\u2019s being built there today is just gigantic.\u201dEnough Burnaby residents have opposed the size and scale of new multiplex homes in the city that councillors have voted to reform their program. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)O\u2019Meara said he\u2019s worried for people\u2019s property values due to the visual impact on the neighbouring properties.Former B.C. MLA and Burnaby resident Kathy Corrigan said it\u2019s true that she\u2019s a \u201cNIMBY\u201d \u2014 \u201cnot in my backyard.\u201d\u201cI definitely don\u2019t want it in my backyard towering over \u2026 four storeys high. No, I don\u2019t want it in my neighbourhood,\u201d she said.Corrigan said the province and the city have \u201ccompletely abdicated their responsibility to the neighbourhoods.\u201d She pointed to other cities, like West Vancouver and New Westminster, that pushed back on the provincial multiplex legislation.Burnaby council has voted to scale back the size of multiplex homes, decreasing allowable heights on future construction from four storeys to three. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)\u201cNo other municipality has done what Burnaby has done,\u201d she said.\u201cBurnaby just basically handed the keys to the city over to developers and said, \u2018You go to it, you build anything you want.\u2019\u2026 The results are these ugly monstrosities.\u201d\u2018Opposed to the extreme\u2019: mayorMayor Mike Hurley says the city is listening to residents and not just caving to NIMBYism.He said he\u2019s been hearing complaints for months, including from people who don\u2019t usually voice concerns.Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley says he disagrees with the province\u2019s \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 approach to multiplex housing. (CBC News)\u201cThey\u2019re not opposed to change, but they are opposed to the extreme, and some people felt that this had gone too far,\u201d Hurley said.He said the city has been struggling with the provincial mandates, which he described as a one-size-fits-all approach.\u201cWhen you see some of these buildings beside a 1950s bungalow, they look pretty stark,\u201d he said.The City of Burnaby has reviewed its multiplex home program and plans to curb the size and height for future builds. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)Hurley said he prefers multiplex homes to be built between the 1,400 and 1,900 square foot mark, instead of the 2,600 square foot multiplexes he said builders had previously been constructing.And he warned while other cities may have pushed back on the provincial legislation, the B.C. government is preparing to crack down on municipalities that have made it difficult to build.Earlier this month, the Ministry of Housing introduced legislation to ensure local governments are not creating bylaws that effectively restrict multiplex housing from being built.It would allow the province to put its recommended minimum standards into city regulations, if a city had overly restrictive rules and \u201cexcessive off-street parking requirements.\u201dB.C.\u2019s Ministry of Housing says municipalities have restricted the building anything other than single-family homes for too long. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)The ministry said the province needs more housing.\u201cFor too long, neighbourhoods almost exclusively allowed single-detached homes, which are often expensive and increasingly out of reach for many households,\u201d said a ministry spokesperson in an emailed statement.Multiplexes allow more livable homes in existing neighbourhoods, said the statement.\u201cWe have been encouraged to see Burnaby as a leader when it comes to adopting and implementing [multiplex housing],\u201d it said.Builder says change begets backlashBryn Davidson, co-owner and lead designer at Lanefab, which designs and builds custom homes, laneways and multiplexes, noted Burnaby had only recently set up a program for building laneway homes before introducing multiplexes.\u201cAll of a sudden they adopted multiplexes. And not only did they go as far as Vancouver, they actually went farther,\u201d Davidson said.He said Burnaby\u2019s program was innovative, but public pushback is to be expected, as the same angst has happened when basement suites, laneway homes and duplexes were introduced.\u201cThere is this kind of shock of transition, and people have a hard time coping with that sense of loss of some of what they\u2019ve come to know. But that\u2019s a normal part of evolving.\u201dDavidson noted that earlier this summer, before Burnaby council decided to change the multiplex bylaw, Vancouver council voted to consider copying Burnaby\u2019s more \u201cpermissive\u201d multiplex regulations.\u201cIt\u2019s fair to do some course correction, as long as it\u2019s not wholesale rewinding of it,\u201d Davidson said. ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Vanderdeen is a web writer for CBC British Columbia. She formerly worked for community newspapers, including the Burnaby Now and New West Record. You can reach her at lauren.vanderdeen@cbc.ca.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British ColumbiaThe City of Burnaby is reversing course on parts of its multiplex housing rules, after fielding complaints from residents about the size and scale of the new multi-unit homes in previously single-family neighbourhoods.Mayor says he\u2019s been hearing complaints from residents for monthsLauren Vanderdeen \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: Oct 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,118,1],"tags":[120,116],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-british-columbia","category-indigenous","category-uncategorized","tag-british-columbia","tag-indigenous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}