The massive reams of housing legislation changes coming at B.C. municipalities have left West 麻豆精选 council wondering how its staff will handle the workload.
鈥淪ome have called it an 鈥榓tmospheric river鈥� of legislative changes,鈥� Brent Magnan, director of development approvals told council at its Tuesday (Feb. 26) meeting.
Among the changes are zoning bylaw amendments supporting four units per single-family lot which must be in place by June, a 20-year housing needs report, required by Jan. 2025, and an updated Official Community Plan (OCP) and the pre-zoning of developable land, both by Dec. 2025. Approximately 7,000 lots in the city are affected by the legislative changes.
鈥淭he amount of work is unfathomable,鈥� said Coun. Jason Friesen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 insane.鈥�
Magnan said the changes will put a strain on staff resources, adding that many projects planned for this year will have to be put on hold.
鈥淭he reality is we鈥檙e not going to be able to get everything done, we鈥檙e just going to have to work with what we have.鈥�
Friesen said that it was 鈥渘ot a good scenario.鈥�
鈥淚n order to increase our housing supply you鈥檙e having to pull from current planning which delays the approvals which is the same thing the province is complaining about.鈥�
Coun. Stephen Johnson said it looks like the province rewrote council鈥檚 strategic priorities.
鈥淚 sympathize with staff鈥ou鈥檝e got a lot to do with a limited amount of information.鈥�
Several councillors complained about not being consulted by the provincial government regarding the changes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a typical bureaucratic solution to a perceived problem, which may not even be the real problem, but it鈥檚 one size fits all,鈥� said Coun. Carol Zannon. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not Vancouver, we鈥檙e not Victoria, we鈥檙e not even 麻豆精选. We鈥檙e very different.鈥�
Magan told council that he believes the legislation is 鈥渨ith good intentions鈥� but noted there will be challenges.
鈥淭here is going to be a number of years as we transition to this proactive nature of planning that鈥hings aren鈥檛 going to work perfectly.鈥�
Several councillors said they were confident staff will do the best job possible in dealing with the changes.
READ MORE: West 麻豆精选 resort accommodations safe from short-term rental changes for now
READ MORE: New over-budget West 麻豆精选 City Hall nearing completion
