City Council to receive update on impact of BC Government changes to Housing policy

A notification sign towards an apartment build
for property adjacent to Prince Rupert Middle School

The fall of 2023 saw the Province of British Columbia take a more active role in housing, with the provincial government moving into a number of areas of governance for municipalities.

How those changes may impact on the way that City Council addresses housing themes was one topic of note from Monday night's council session for Councillor Nick Adey, who was looking for some feedback from staff as to further guidance on the topic.

"I'm not an expert on all of the nuances of it, but Im fairly comfortable in saying that they're going to have an impact on how municipalities do their work in terms of zoning and permitting new construction and what have you.

So what I'm curious about and I'm not sure whether it can happen off the cuff now, or whether staff would like to take a couple of weeks and come back with something more prepared ... but I'm interested in a sense of what those key changes are as they affect Prince Rupert and how do they affect us"

Before turning the topic over to the City Manager, Mayor Herb Pond observed over the quick pace of the changes over the fall and early winter.

"A great question, it seemed towards the end of last year that every week I was inviting Doctor Buchan and Director Pope to my office to watch yet another conference call to explain the legislation that had just been announced the day before"

For his part,  Doctor Buchan provided a synopsis of what staff have planned for Council in the months ahead.

"Council will be receiving a more fuller briefing during Strategic Planing. 

Because this does actually have significant impact on our work plans for this year. 

So that is coming"

The City Manager  then turned to Director of Development Services, Myfanny Pope to provide a brief overview towards some of the housing themes of note.

"Generally speaking the goal of the Legislation as introduced by the province is to increase and move the amount of housing that's permitted, on what might now be considered a single family lot,  towards where we've already actually started going with permitting, the two units plus a secondary suite.

So under the new legislation all lots that currently permit single family homes, or duplexes, will be required to permit three or four units, depending on the size of the lots.

And on many of our lots that would be three units, because we have smaller lots.  

As well as an additional, as an accessory  dorm unit so a secondary suite, or what might be called a carriage home, detached ...

Those changes will need to be implemented in our zoning by June 30th of 2024, and they will affect our zones R1 and R2, So that's duplex and single family homes zones.

More broadly speaking, the province is also requiring that we update our Housing Needs Assessment by the end of 2024; as well as update our Official Community Plan by the end of 2025.

And that is to align it with the outlook of housing for the next twenty years within the community.

The other big change that came with this legislation was the removal of the option to have a public hearing for rezoning's that are already aligned with the Official Community Plan.

So currently, Council has the option to waive public hearings for rezoning's that are aligned and that option will be removed and Council will no longer able to host those. 

So those are the sort of large big items on the provincial changes"

Councillor Adey noted of the public hearing aspect of the changes and how it may be received by the public.

"I'm just interested in how the public feels about that last piece, because I know sometimes these things can be contentious"  

Mayor Pond put the provincial housing process into a larger perspective. by way a short commentary on the approach that they have taken on.

"Just to be clear and not to support it one way or another. The Province is saying, you know if somebody applies to do a development that matches your zoning and your community plan, you've got to let them do it. And you've go to let them get on with doing it"

You can review all of the talking points around the Council chamber from the City's Video Archive starting at the 20 minute mark.

A look at the provincial themes on Housing and some of the provincial government's recent announcements can be explored further here.

More notes on Monday's Council Session can be reviewed here.

Civic planning themes are noted on our archive page here.

While themes on housing in the Prince Rupert area can be reviewed from our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.