Relocate, recycle or demolish: what to do with Burnaby homes up for redevelopment

It has been two years since a Vancouver-based company presented a plan to Burnaby City Council to relocate single-family houses on sites slated for redevelopment into multi-unit housing. The plan may involve changes to the city’s bylaws but should offer benefits to the city, homeowners, developers, and the environment. 

According to Glyn Lewis, CEO of Renewal Home Development, in this scenario, developers would pay the same amount they would typically pay for demolishing the homes. The company would then physically move the entire home, first on a truck and then on a barge, to a less-urbanized area. 

Lewis added that new homeowners would then pay less than they typically  would to build a house. Lewis told the Beacon it would cost, on average, 50 percent less than building a house from scratch. The city would benefit from reduced waste, as the house will not end up in a landfill. 

“You can generally say somewhere in the ballpark of $30,000 to $50,000, and that’s very typical for any demolition abatement contractor that you call,” Lewis said of the cost of moving a house instead of demolishing it. 

Lewis first presented this plan to council in March 2023 and Burnaby’s mayor and councillors had a positive response to his presentation. 

In Nov. 2023, the province changed the zoning requirements, which resulted in an increase in the number of single-family homes to be demolished and redeveloped as multi-unit housing. According to a report by Lewis’ company, as a result of the zoning changes, Burnaby will see a 35-percent increase in demolitions over the next 10 years. 

The report said that 20 percent  of the homes can be relocated to non-urban areas, and another 40-to-60 percent  can be deconstructed and their materials reused. 

In June 2024, city staff returned to council with an assessment of Renewal Home Development’s Municipal Action Plan (MAP) and outlined a few implementation challenges. 

“The goal to repurpose, reuse, or relocate high-value homes prior to demolition remains high, and the city will continue to promote the outcomes of the MAP policy solutions proposed by the delegation. The advancement of some solutions outlined in the MAP may not be feasible without significant amendments to city bylaws and policies and actions taken by regional, provincial, and federal authorities,” staff said in a council report. “However, the City will continue to explore avenues that align with the City’s existing policies and regulations to pursue the intent of the Municipal Action Plan on Saving, Repurposing and Relocating Homes.”

However, during the Jun. 10, 2024 council meeting, Ed Kozak, the city’s general manager of planning and development said the city has most of the policy tools in place to implement the plan. 

“The reason why it's an information recommendation is because we already have the tools to implement the policy framework that was presented, and we intend to carry that through. We don't need a motion from council in order to do that, and we were planning to proceed in that way,” Kozak said. “We intend to follow through with all these actions we're currently evaluating on how to do that, and we can certainly report back on where we ended up in terms of what that process looks like.” 

Lewis told the Beacon that he has not heard from the City since then. 

“I haven’t heard any feedback in terms of actions taken based on our recommendations since our presentation, which was over a year ago,” Lewis said. “I know that the recommendations were reviewed by council and staff. The staff made a report back to council, and council asked questions.” 

Not all homes are good candidates for relocation. Lewis estimates that there are about 320 homes in Burnaby demolished every year. 

“We estimate about 15-to-20 percent of those homes are good candidates to be saved, to be relocated, and to be repurposed,” Lewis said. “That’s about 70 homes a year out of Burnaby that could be relocated and repurposed.” 

The houses most suitable for relocation are often single-storey houses such as bungalows or ranchers. Basements and foundations often remain on the original site and have to be removed.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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