At the July 23rd Council meeting, amendments to the Procedure Bylaw were approved to better align with Bill 18. These changes amend the Vancouver Charter to better align with the rules and authorities governing other BC municipalities under the Local Government Act, namely on changes to the public hearing process. A separate report will be brought to Council later regarding development procedure bylaws and form of development approvals. 

Effective April 25th, 2024, Council is prohibited from holding a public hearing on a proposed zoning bylaw amendment if the application is consistent with an Official Development Plan (ODP) and the gross floor area is made up of a minimum of 50% residential uses. Council is also not required to hold a public hearing on a proposed zoning bylaw if it is consistent with an ODP for all other uses. If a public hearing is subject to being waived, Council can consider either referring the rezoning application to a public hearing or a Council meeting for decision. All zoning bylaw changes will continue to require decision by Council. 

The City currently has 11 area-specific Official Development Plans (ODPs) along with three city-wide and subject-related ODPs (Appendix B). Approximately 6% of Vancouver’s land is within existing area-specific ODPs. In most cases, rezoning applications within these areas are typically not compliant with the ODP. Therefore, public hearings for rezoning applications within these existing area-specific ODP will likely continue to be required. 

For applications where a public hearing has been waived or prohibited, a decision on the application is still required at a Council meeting. Consistent with the stated intent of the provincial legislation to accommodate early public input into land use plans but also expedite project-specific rezoning decisions, staff recommend that Part 7 of the Procedure Bylaw be amended to preclude public speakers at Council for ODP compliant applications. To confirm, this recommendation would still enable members of the public to submit written comments to Council in accordance with the existing practice. 

Bill 18 will require Council to adopt an applications procedure bylaw(s) for amendments to an official development plan, rezonings, and development permit applications. These changes are not yet in effect; staff anticipate these provisions will come into effect in 2025. A staff report will be brought to Council with recommendations to establish new procedures for ODP amendments and rezoning applications in early 2025. Bill 18 also includes a provision for Council to delegate authority to approve the form of development for CD-1 rezoning applications. This provision will improve the permitting process by allowing form of development to be reviewed by staff should Council delegate the authority. Planning staff will prepare a draft Rezoning and Development Applications Procedure Bylaw, to incorporate these legislative changes. This report will be brought to Council for consideration in early 2025. 

More information can be found in the full report by City staff. 

May 21st, 2024

At a Special Council meeting on May 14th, a report was received on the City’s progress on the Provincial Housing Targets Order. It provided an early indication of the City’s ability to meet or make progress towards achieving its housing targets. City staff are currently updating the City’s housing targets to incorporate the new Provincial Target Order, and will bring forward refreshed housing targets for Council to approve in June. 

Over the last six months, there have been approximately 1,600 net new units completed within Vancouver. According to City staff, although it is common for completions to be lower in the first part of the year, there was a decline in completions over the last two years from 2022 to 2024. Despite lower than anticipated completions, the report states there is an unprecedented volume of projects in-stream, with enough capacity in the current development pipeline to meet the Province’s overall completions target over the 5-year time frame. 

City staff highlighted that while the City has the ability to approve projects and expedite processes, the timing for construction and completion of housing units is primarily dependent on factors beyond the City’s control, including capacity of the construction sector, inflationary pressure, access to funding, and financing for market and non-market developers. Making meaningful progress towards project completion therefore would require a coordinated effort by all levels of government and various sectors of the economy. Without senior government partnerships, low-cost financing and funding contributions, the City alone will not be able to achieve the Provincial housing targets and affordability level. 

It was also noted that the impact of policy changes made today, and projects approved this year, will not reach completions until the later years of the Target Order timeline, or into the next Provincial Target Order. 

More information can be found in the full report by City staff.