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Find Properties with Potential for Development
Find Properties with Potential for Development

Zoning, Rezoning, Development, Land Assembly, OCP, Land Use, Potential, Video

Joep Olthuis avatar
Written by Joep Olthuis
Updated over 2 years ago

AUTOPROP's land use layers provide you with a very powerful tool-set for finding properties with potential for rezoning. 

We will cover the following steps:

  1. Find Future Land Use Designation/Densities

  2. Find Development Applications

  3. Find Listings

  4. Determine Current Use

  5. Load Data and Export your Prospecting List

In this use-case we will take a look at the Broadway Plan in Vancouver 

Video:

Find Future Land Use Designation/Densities

We are looking for properties where the future land use designation has a significantly higher density than the current use. Under the Broadway Plan we can find the future land use designations. This information can be displayed on the map using the map layers. After you have navigated to the Broadway Plan area:

  1. Click the blue layers button 

  2. Open Layers

  3. Select  Land Use. Turn on Local Area Plan (LAP).

Note that in other municipalities you might need to activate the Official Community Plan (OCP), or Neighbourhood Community Plan (NCP) layer instead.

The LAP layer is now activated. 

Each land use designation has assigned it's own colour on the map. When you click on any property on the map an information bubble will pop up which will provide you with the LAP designation

When clicking on the Broadway Plan - MRTA - Mount Pleasant RT Areas - Area C - Mixed-Uset Areas - Mid- to High-Rise link to open the City's LAP, I found that this designation allows for Secured market and below-market rental up to 18 storeys and a density of up to 5.5 FSR.

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Save time! Did you know that you can also isolate one or more specific densities within a plan using the Land Use Plan Search tool?

Click on the Land Use Plan Search tool, then:

  1. Choose the Municipality

  2. Municipal Plan Type

  3. Land Use Plan

  4. Highlight Colour

  5. And click Add to the Map

Now only that specific designation will be highlighted on the map. This makes it much easier to distinguish from other colours/designations.

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Find Development Applications

Next, we want to see where existing development applications are located and what is being applied for. To do this, click layers --> Development --> select Active and Inactive. The applications will show up on the map in dark blue (pending approval from the city) and light blue (concluded with the city).

You can see there's a development application for a neighbouring property for an addition to an existing building. You can click on the blue highlighted Code for more details (if available).

Note. Development applications can also act as an excellent comparable.

Find Listings

We also want to see if any properties in this area are already listed. You can search for listings on the map using the Residential Listings from your MLS, in this case Paragon and you can also search for (Exclusive) Commercial Listings using Broker Listings. I advise to search for Land categories.

Determine Current Use

Now we know which areas are designated for higher densities, we know which sites are already listed, or have applied for development/rezoning applications with the city. The last step is to find the properties that currently have a significantly lower density.

First you can use the aerial view to determine which properties look like single family homes or other low density uses. Note that the aerial views are not always up to date, this method only acts as a first indicator of current use.

Next you can start selecting the properties which are in the areas you have in the previous steps determined to be higher future density, with no development application and no active or recently sold listing and look to have a current low density use.

Use one of the selection tools to select those properties on the map.

If there are any properties which have multiple PIDs (oftentimes meaning strata) you can click on Cancel to not include in your selections.

Load Data and Export your Prospecting List

Lastly we can load data on all the selected properties. You can include important information like lot size, sales history, current use, assessment values and more.

First, click on the round button in the bottom left corner to open the Properties Table. This table will include all the selected properties from the map.

In the table, click on Load Data and select the data points which you want to load on all the selected properties. Then click on Update. The data should load within a few seconds.

You can use the information in the table to further determine whether these properties have potential for development. For example, watch out for recent sales with high values and the "Multiple Property Transaction" description. These are likely sales to a developer.

Finally, you can export this data as an Excel file. Click on Export Selected and choose Export to Excel (CSV)

Recap

  1. Find Future Land Use Designation/Densities

  2. Find Development Applications

  3. Find Listings

  4. Determine Current Use

  5. Load Data and Export your Prospecting List

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