Reducing the number of public hearings
Requires an update to the Vancouver Charter
One of the key recommendations of the MacPhail Report:
We recommend a stronger role for housing needs estimates and citywide official plans, which guide how entire communities are expected to grow. We also recommend reduced reliance on site-by-site public hearings and council approvals that delay homebuilding and amplify the voices of groups opposing new housing at the expense of citywide objectives and affordability.
Zoning laws are so restrictive that practically every project requires a rezoning, adding an exception to the law to allow the project to be built. This is a discretionary, slow, and painful process. The last step in the process is a public hearing, which is basically a battleground for housing supporters and opponents to each mobilize as many people as possible. We’re each limited to five minutes of speaking time, but there’s no limit on the number of speakers.
As Nolan Gray describes it:
Many U.S. cities force every development proposal to go through a long and costly discretionary review process. This is often done by making land-use regulations so restrictive that any development must pursue a discretionary action like a rezoning or a special permit. In practice, this submits all proposed development to months of negotiating and public review, in which locals can shout a project down to their preferred size (which is often a vacant lot) or extract large concessions from the developer.
Almost all municipalities in BC are governed by the province’s Local Government Act. The city of Vancouver has its own Vancouver Charter, which basically means that provincial legislative changes don’t automatically apply to Vancouver.
Back in October 2021, the province updated its municipal legislation so that municipalities would no longer be required to hold public hearings for rezonings that are consistent with their official community plan. But this didn’t apply to Vancouver.
In November 2023, the province passed Bill 44, which says that municipalities can no longer hold public hearings for rezonings consistent with their official plan. Again, this didn’t apply to Vancouver.
One other issue, besides the Vancouver Charter, is that Vancouver doesn’t have an official community plan.
Yesterday Ravi Kahlon announced that the province will be updating the Vancouver Charter to address some of these issues. Announcement.
The legislation requires Vancouver to adopt a city-wide official development plan (ODP), similar to an official community plan. This requirement will be phased in to reflect that Vancouver does not currently have a city-wide ODP.
The legislation also establishes the same rules for public hearings as those set for other local governments. This will phase out one-off public hearings for rezonings for housing projects that are consistent with the official development plan. Instead, the emphasis will be on providing opportunities for people to be involved upfront in shaping their communities through the official development plan process.
The proposed amendments also include improvements requested by the City of Vancouver to streamline approvals through delegation, and by authorizing a development approval bylaw consistent with other municipalities.
Because the city of Vancouver is geographically central, with easy access to jobs, a lot of people want to live there. So making it easier to build housing in Vancouver, focusing on city-wide policies instead of site-by-site approvals, is particularly important.
More
BC government to require City of Vancouver to create an official community plan and axe some public hearings. Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive.
B.C. cities rethinking the use of public hearings. Dan Fumano, Vancouver Sun, July 2023.
Bill 26: Significant Implications for Local Governments. Talya Peled Bar, CircuLawr, March 2022. Discusses the October 2021 changes.
New BC Housing Legislation Brings Changes to the Public Hearings Process. Kira Davidson, BC Law Institute, December 2023. Describes the Bill 44 changes.
Burnaby to scrap 90% of its public hearings. Lauren Vanderdeen, December 2023.
Renovate the Public Hearing. An initiative to reform the public hearing process, by SFU’s Morris Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
The Vancouver Plan, approved July 2023. This isn’t specific enough to be an official development plan.
An opposing view from CityHallWatch. Heads up, Metro Vancouver: Delta eliminated public hearings (if a rezoning is ‘consistent’ with the official community plan). January 2023.