The massive reams of housing legislation changes coming at B.C. municipalities have left West Kelowna council wondering how its staff will handle the workload.
“Some have called it an ‘atmospheric river’ of legislative changes,” 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.
“The amount of work is unfathomable,” said Coun. Jason Friesen. “It’s insane.”
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.
“The reality is we’re not going to be able to get everything done, we’re just going to have to work with what we have.”
Friesen said that it was “not a good scenario.”
“In order to increase our housing supply you’re having to pull from current planning which delays the approvals which is the same thing the province is complaining about.”
Coun. Stephen Johnson said it looks like the province rewrote council’s strategic priorities.
“I sympathize with staff…you’ve got a lot to do with a limited amount of information.”
Several councillors complained about not being consulted by the provincial government regarding the changes.
“It’s a typical bureaucratic solution to a perceived problem, which may not even be the real problem, but it’s one size fits all,” said Coun. Carol Zannon. “We’re not Vancouver, we’re not Victoria, we’re not even Kelowna. We’re very different.”
Magan told council that he believes the legislation is “with good intentions” but noted there will be challenges.
“There is going to be a number of years as we transition to this proactive nature of planning that…things aren’t going to work perfectly.”
Several councillors said they were confident staff will do the best job possible in dealing with the changes.
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