Metro Vancouver Regional Planning Committee received a new draft of the Regional Growth Strategy today and, after discussion and debate, we agreed unanimously to send it out for final comment before referral to a formal public hearing, proposed for late November.
This new draft has significant, and in my opinion, positive changes ranging from much stronger local flexibility on local issues while still maintaining good control on issues of regional significance and explicit recognition of the role of land use planning in the economy.
It's not perfect, and there are likely still changes ahead (some even made today at the committee), but much better and much closer. And it's worth noting that a document that needs the unanimous approval of 22 municipalities is unlikely to be perfect from any one municipality's perspective.
All of this came about as a significant change in process. Previous drafts were prepared by Metro staff and sent out to individual municipalities for comment, back and forth several times over many, many months with little sign of it getting closer to the unanimous approval it needs.
This current draft is the product of several months of direct negotiations between planners from Metro's member municipalities who worked hard to fight for local interests but also worked hard to find solutions that everyone can live with and meet the goals of the plan.
A media release from Metro Vancouver staff follows. You can find the new draft of the Regional Growth Strategy at:
http://www.metrovancouver.org/boards/Regional%20Planning%20Committee/5.1_Attachment-RGS-Draft-RPL-%20September_3_2010-Additional_item.pdf
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September 3, 2010
A New land use Strategy for Metro Vancouver
Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning Committee today unveiled a new Regional Growth Strategy that will guide the way the region develops to accommodate the additional one million residents expected by 2040.
“This growth strategy will help us build a prosperous economy, ensure Metro Vancouver remains a great place to live and protect our spectacular environment,” said Derek Corrigan, a Metro Vancouver Director and Chair of its Regional Planning Committee.
“We’ve worked hard on this plan for the last four years and believe we have found the right balance between what needs to be solved regionally and what issues are best left up to individual municipalities,” he said.
“We’d like member municipalities, business groups, community groups and the public to take one last look at this draft before we begin our public hearings this fall,” said Corrigan, who is also the Mayor of Burnaby.
“If all goes well, we will have a new Strategy in place early in 2011.”
The draft Regional Growth Strategy marks a departure from “business as usual” when it comes to the location of additional housing, jobs, and services. Some highlights of the 71-page plan are:
- · Providing a clear “urban footprint” to curtail urban sprawl and protect conservation, recreation, agricultural and rural areas.
- · Ensuring an adequate land supply for housing and action plans for affordable housing from all member municipalities.
- · Ensuring an adequate land supply for jobs, particularly industrial jobs.
- · Protecting the region’s industrial lands to support a prosperous region and Metro Vancouver’s role as an international gateway.
- · Steering new development to places that can be well served by transit, giving Metro Vancouver residents more options to move around the region.
- · Helping reduce the region’s greenhouse gas emissions through promoting transit-oriented development.
- · South of the Fraser communities will get a large proportion of new growth, so there is a strong emphasis on jobs close to home in locations such as Surrey Metro Centre and they are identified as priority areas for rapid transit improvements.
The new Regional Growth Strategy will replace the existing Livable Region Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors in 1996.
Before the plan becomes law, the Regional Growth Strategy must first be formally accepted by all of Metro Vancouver’s 22 member municipalities, the Tsawwassen First Nation (Metro Vancouver’s newest member), TransLink, and all adjacent regional districts.
“It was essential for us to work with everyone to create a strategy that we all could agree to,” Corrigan said. “It was a long journey but we now have a strong strategy that is responsive to the concerns that we heard and respects the varying characters and different stages of development of our member municipalities.
Metro Vancouver will receive comments on the draft Strategy from now until October 15, 2010. Copies of the draft, background documents and on-line comment forms can be found at www.metrovancouver.org From the home page, use the search function to find “Regional Growth Strategy.”
Media Contact
Glenn Bohn,
Communications Specialist,
Metro Vancouver,
Office: 604-451-6697
Cell: 604-314-5964
Glenn.Bohn@metrovancouver.org
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