Changes to the province’s housing legislation are having a big impact on Coquitlam’s projects, the city manager said this week while reviewing the first four months of this year.
In the city’s trimester report for January to April, Raul Allueva told the city’s council-in-committee on Monday, June 24, that all civic departments slowed or put on pause 22 of the 55 items listed in Coquitlam’s 2024 Business Plan due to the extra workload and/or lack of staff.
But, he stressed, “there is work underway behind the scenes” and, in the fall, the municipality will have a better understanding about what projects can get back on track.
According to the city’s corporate dashboard, these items are now listed as “Impacted by Provincial Mandates” due to the legislation introduced last fall without civic consultation:
- Blue Mountain Park Master Plan
- Glen Park Phase 3 planning
- Child Care Partnership implementation
- Southwest Housing Review (SWHR)
- Burke Mountain Village development planning
- Hazel–Coy Neighbourhood Plan
- Heritage Management Strategy
- Strategic Transportation Plan update
- Economic Development Competitiveness Study
- Road Safety Strategy
- Art in Public Spaces Program
- Major Recreation and Cultural Facilities Roadmap
- Climate Action Plan
- Urban Forest Management Strategy
- Development Application Program (DAPR) core review
- Business Improvement Committee initiatives
- Fees, rates and charges reviews
- Financial systems modernization
- Land management activities
- Official Community Plan (OCP) review
- Space Planning Strategy
- Strategic Plan renewal
Still, despite the upheaval to civic policies and procedures — a move that’s taken the time for about 50 civic employees outside of the planning and development department, said Nikki Caulfield, Coquitlam’s general manager of corporate services — city hall managed to make some advancements in the first trimester of 2024.
These include:
- more outreach and bylaw enforcement at and around construction sites
- preliminary work to launch the Accessibility Plan
- community safety programming and a community police office strategy
- capital amenity construction like the Town Centre Park Community Centre
- formerly the Innovation Centre, next to the Evergreen Cultural Centre
- a corporate governance framework to address the provincial legislation
As well, while Caulfield said it's hard to predict the immediate legislative impact on the city’s receipt of development cost charges (DCC), density bonus, Affordable Housing Reserve Fund and community amenity contributions, Coquitlam continued its uptick on the housing supply.
Between January and April, 43 new development applications were filed with the city, Caulfield said; however, civic staff also fielded numerous questions from developers about the housing legislation changes.
In addition, several high-value building permit bids were issued in T1 due to the increase of the Metro Vancouver development cost charge in April 2024; Metro Vancouver plans to raise the rate again in March 2025.
And, she said, along with changes to the BC Building Code next year — in addition to the provincial housing legislation mandates — the city expects a big development process push before the end of 2024.
