Vancouver is considering its first ‘official development plan.’ What does that mean?
If Vancouver council approves the official development plan this week, it will not immediately change what can be built and where. It will, however, lead to changes in how some projects are approved
By Dan Fumano
Last updated 13 hours ago
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This week, Vancouver council is considering the city’s first “official development plan.”
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It would replace the Vancouver plan, which was approved by council in 2022 after years of work, as a high-level guide setting the direction for the city’s growth over the next three decades and beyond.
The B.C. government has mandated that all B.C. municipalities must adopt such plans by June.
Still, some critics are urging Vancouver council to defeat the plan. Among them are some urban planning experts and the political party TEAM for a Livable Vancouver. They argue the city should fight against the provincial government’s density mandates.
Here’s what to know:
What kinds of new development would be enabled by the ODP?
If Vancouver does approve the development plan, it would not immediately change what can be built, where it can be built, and how big.
As proposed, it does not enable any new development options beyond the existing zoning and area plans already in place. It will, however, serve as a guide for future area plans and policy development.
It will also lead to changes in the process by which some developments are approved.
What will happen to public hearings?
The province wants to reduce how many public hearings municipalities hold before approving developments.
Public hearings have been the subject of debate over the years. Some argue public hearings add significant delay, cost, and uncertainty to housing construction. Others, including neighbourhood associations and some politicians, oppose reducing opportunities for the public to communicate directly to elected officials, calling that undemocratic.
Previous area plans in Vancouver, such as the Broadway plan, often allowed bigger buildings than previously allowed — but to build those towers, developers still needed to seek council’s approval through a public hearing process.
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If the official development plan is approved, that will change. Under provincial legislation, public hearings are prohibited for plan-compliant applications with at least 50 per cent residential floor space.
If the plan is approved, council will still make decisions about individual applications, based on recommendations from city staff, much as they do now. Members of the public may still provide written comments, but they will no longer be able to speak to council at a meeting.
Proposals that are not consistent with the plan could still go through public hearings.
What do critics of the plan say?
A group of several urban experts are urging council to refer the plan back to city staff for reconsideration and a more extensive public engagement.
This group includes two former heads of Vancouver’s planning department, Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman. In an open letter posted to the website housingreset.ca, the group argues that reducing public hearings will reduce the ability of people to influence their neighbourhood’s direction.
“No consideration of local context or livability,” they write. “Fortunes made, neighbourhoods ruined.”
The critics argue that instead of following the provincial direction and, in some cases, exceeding its minimum requirements, Vancouver should fight the province, as some other municipalities have done. They want the city to ask the courts to review the provincial legislation, which they argue amounts to “jurisdictional overreach.”
They say the province will need to be “lenient” with the June deadline for development plans, so “there is no need for council to rush this through well in advance.”
TEAM issued a news release Monday, supporting the urban experts’ concerns and opposing the plan in its current form.
How is Vancouver’s population expected to change?
An appendix attached to the development plan includes a range of population projections. On the low end, B.C. Stats predicts Vancouver will grow by 150,500 people by 2050 for a population of 904,500. On the high end, a forecast from local real estate services firm Rennie predicts the city could add between 245,100 and 271,300 people during that same period, bringing the city’s population to as much as 1.02 million by 2050.
The report by Rennie, which was commissioned by the city, notes that “growing levels of local to global uncertainty” make it difficult to predict population trends over the coming decades.
Meanwhile, nearby Surrey has been growing at a faster pace than Vancouver. It’s estimated that Surrey could overtake Vancouver as B.C.’s most populous city as soon as 2041.
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