After almost two years of back and forth with West Vancouver over its lack of progress on housing targets, the B.C. government has overridden the municipality and amended parts of its official community plan to allow for greater density along Marine Drive.

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West Vancouver only approved 58 of the 220 housing units it was required to develop in Year 1 of its provincially-mandated housing targets, according to the Ministry of Housing. It also missed the Dec. 31, 2025, deadline to approve the Ambleside area plan, which is part of the larger community plan, under directives issued by Housing Minister Christine Boyle.

This is the first time the province has used an order-in-council to forcefully pass part of a municipality’s official community plan.

The plan allows four-storey developments all along Marine Drive and taller buildings in some areas, including up to 16 storeys on 17th Street. It had been stuck at council for almost a year, with a vote of 3-3 delaying debate on it last May. Mayor Mark Sager recused himself from the vote due to a conflict of interest.

The letter sent by Boyle to Sager on April 7 makes clear that the government sees some progress around densification in other parts of the municipality, although it still doesn’t believe West Vancouver is in compliance.

Boyle said West Vancouver will need to submit regular reports on densification around Park Royal and conduct a housing analysis for Ambleside Apartment Area and Dundarave in order to avoid further orders. Area plans for these regions are still under development.

Sager said Wednesday that the order is not a surprise and that he is optimistic about some of the comments Boyle made in her letter to him.

“You’ll see the minister recognizes that we’ve done significant work in the direction of more housing in our community. I mean, the Cypress Village alone, meets and exceeds any target that the minister would ever impose, and I’m glad that she recognizes that,” said Sager of the 3,700-unit development that will be constructed over the next 25 years.

“I think it’s unusual for the province to get this involved in local land use planning, but that’s an issue that they’ll have to deal with at the next provincial election. But I’m glad that she appears willing to look at alternates to her directions.”

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B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday that his government has given West Vancouver plenty of time to comply with provincial mandates but it has not done so.

He said this is in contrast to other municipalities, such as Kelowna, that have more than met their housing targets.

“West Vancouver is not unique in terms of their treatment by the provincial government, in terms of our expectations that they hit minimum standards in providing the housing that people need,” said Eby.

“As we were clear from the very beginning, this was not optional work. The vast majority of municipalities across the province engaged in this work in good faith because they understood the importance of this issue for British Columbians, and the results are in. With West Vancouver, we’ve had to, unfortunately, take the step of requiring them to do this work.”

The saga between West Vancouver and provincial government began in July 2024 when then-Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon gave Sager and his council 30 days to change its bylaws to allow multi-unit housing throughout the municipality.

Although council ultimately passed the new bylaws, the province still wasn’t happy with its progress and, in January 2025, Kahlon appointed Capilano University instructor Ron Mattiussi as a housing adviser for the municipality. Mattiussi had previously been the director of planning and chief administrative officer for Kelowna.

Two months later, Mattiussi released his final report directing the province to increase density around Park Royal Mall, Ambleside, Taylor Way and Dundarave Village.

Andy Yan, an urban studies professor and director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the province has chosen to forgo collaboration with municipalities and undertake a top-down approach when it comes to housing.

He said municipalities know the local building culture and what their own residents will and will not accept, and not allowing them to be partners or have a say could create risk for the government.

“In one way, the province does have the authority to do this, but it goes into what are the immediate and short term, intermediary and long-term implications of these types of decisions,” said Yan.

“I think that this is going to be interesting to watch, given the state of politics in the province, and what will happen when some of these municipalities don’t follow what the province is telling it.”

Should the provincial government be allowed to order municipalities to build more homes over the objections of local council? Share your views with reporter Alec Lazenby at alazenby@postmedia.com.