TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE REPORT: PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the Committee recommend to Council that staff prepare the necessary bylaw amendment to amend the Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 811, 2011 as follows:

• adding a new sub-section, Housing Need Requirement, within Section 3: Housing, to detail the 5- and 20-year period (2021 – 2041) housing need in View Royal;
• revising an existing housing policy, Policy HS1.9 Innovative Approaches, by adding: shelters for persons experiencing homelessness and housing for those at risk of homelessness;
• adding a new policy, Policy HS1.12 Non-Market Units, within Section 3: Housing, to support the development of non-market housing for lower-income populations through collaborative efforts with agencies and governments;
• deleting existing Large Lot Residential (R-L) and Residential (R) land use designations and replacing with a new Small-Scale, Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) land use designation defined as follows: uses include detached and attached dwellings, such as detached residential, secondary suite, garden suite, duplex, rowhouse, townhouse, house-plex, and apartments; buildings up to three storeys; and a maximum of six (6) dwelling units;
• adding a new Hospital Transit-Oriented Area (HTOA) land use designation, and amending the existing land use designations of all properties within 200 metres of the identified transit exchange bus stop to the new HTOA land use designation, defined as follows: uses include mixed-use with apartments, visitor accommodations, restaurants, retail, office, institutional (i.e. Hospital), and Civic Use (e.g. daycares, libraries, public gathering and amenity spaces); buildings up to 10 Storeys; and density up to 3.5 Floor Space Ratio (FSR);
• adding a new Neighbourhood Village (NV) land use designation, and amending the existing land use designations of all properties within 201 and 400 metres of the identified transit exchange bus stop to the new NV land use designation, defined as follows: uses include small-scale, mixed-use buildings, such as multi-unit housing and community-serving commercial and civic uses (schools, offices, restaurants, retail, small grocery store, and community spaces); buildings up to six storeys; and density up to 2.5 FSR; and
• adding a new policy, LU 4.14 Mixed Commercial Development, to Section 1: Land Use and Urban Design, which states the following: Development of four-storeys or greater should incorporate commercial or public use space.

ALTERNATIVE OPTION:

That the Committee recommend to Council that the proposed amendments be declined.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to introduce the proposed amendments to the Town’s Official Community Plan (OCP) to align with the Town’s 5- and 20-year housing need calculated in the recent Interim Housing Needs Report (IHNR) and ensure that the OCP includes housing policies that address each class of housing need identified in the Housing Needs Report (HNR) by December 31, 2025, in accordance with the Local Government Act (LGA). The amendments also include the addition of a mixed-use development policy to encourage the provision of commercial or public use space in developments four-storeys or greater.

BACKGROUND:

OCP Review and Update

In October 2024, Council endorsed the OCP review and update and subsequently awarded a contract to Urban Systems in December of 2024. The project scope included three distinct phases, as follows:

Between January 2025 and May 2025, staff completed two engagement touchpoints. The first touchpoint included a Vision and Guiding Principles Survey. The second touchpoint focused on community growth and featured a Community Growth Survey as well an “engagement week” which included both in-person and online workshops and open-houses.

At the Council meeting on May 13, 2025, staff presented on the Land Economics Update Study and Housing Capacity Analysis and Land Use Scenarios prepared by Urban Systems. At this meeting, Council expressed concern over the engagement process, content, and scope of work in the OCP review and update. Due to the concerns raised at this meeting, a third engagement touchpoint that was planned for June 2025 was postponed.

In response to Council’s feedback, staff presented three options to move forward with the project at the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 10, 2025. The Committee recommended to Council that a shift in project scope and engagement was necessary, while still achieving the legislated update requirements by the December 31, 2025, deadline.

The motions that the Committee of the Whole recommended to Council on June 10, 2025 and that were ratified by Council on June 17, 2025, are as follows:

THAT the Committee recommend to Council that, in alignment with a modified Option 2 as presented in the Director of Development’s May 14, 2025 report titled “Official Community Plan Phase 1 Process Update”, Council instruct staff to undertake amendments to the 2011 Official Community Plan (OCP) to align the OCP with the anticipated 20-year housing needs calculated in the Town’s Interim Housing Needs Report and amend the land use designations to satisfy the provincial housing legislation (Bills 44 and 47) by December 31, 2025, as follows:

i. replace the Residential and Large Lot Residential land use designations with a new Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing land use designation to allow up to six dwelling units;
ii. establish a new Hospital Transit-Oriented Area land use designation for the lands within 200m of the bus exchange within the prescribed Transit-Oriented Area to allow mixed-use, office and apartment buildings up to 10 storeys and a density of up to 3.5:1 floor space ratio;
iii. establish a new Neighbourhood Village land use designation for the lands within 201m to 400m of the bus exchange within the prescribed Transit-Oriented Area to allow mixed-use, commercial and apartment buildings up to six-storeys and a density of up to 2.5:1 floor space ratio; and
iv. update any relevant policies to ensure consistency with the provincial housing legislation.

AND THAT staff focus on the review and update of the land use designations for the properties along the proposed Western Gateway Community Corridor from the intersection of Island Highway and Burnside Road West to the Colwood border;

AND FURTHER THAT staff continue with the review and update of the vision statement and goals and further review and update relevant land use and housing policies in the 2011 OCP, and prepare a 50% draft for further engagement with the OCP Advisory Committee, Council, and the public.

At the Council meeting on January 21, 2025, Council passed the following motion:

THAT amendments be drafted to the Official Community Plan and Zoning bylaws to implement a requirement for commercial space or public use space in any new developments above four-storeys;

AND THAT these proposed amendments be referred to the Official Community Plan Review Advisory Committee for feedback.

In response to Council’s motion, staff presented to Committee of the Whole on July 8, 2025, with recommendations to amend the OCP and Zoning Bylaw. At this meeting the Committee clarified that their intent was not to amend the OCP and Zoning Bylaw to require the provision of commercial space or public use space, but rather to encourage these uses. Following the discussion, the Committee passed the following motion:

THAT the Committee recommend to Council that the 2025-2026 Official Community Plan (OCP) update include a policy statement that new development four-storeys or greater should incorporate commercial or public use space.

Legislated Requirements

Section 473.1 of the LGA outlines the requirements that local governments must meet to align the OCP with the Housing Needs Report by December 31, 2025. The Town must carry out the following amendments to the OCP:

1. establish statement and map designations for the area covered by the plan to provide at least 20-year total number of housing units required to meet anticipated housing needs; and
2. establish housing policies respecting each class of housing needs in the housing needs report, including affordable housing, rental housing, special needs housing, seniors housing, family housing, shelters, and housing in close proximity to transportation infrastructure that supports walking, bicycling, public transit or other alternative forms of transportation.

The proposed bylaw amendments address the provincial legislation.

ANALYSIS:

To satisfy the provincial legislation, the proposed amendments are summarized below, and are available for review in the draft Amendment Bylaw No. 1156, 2025 (see Attachment 1):

• adding a new sub-section, Housing Need Requirement, within Section 3: Housing, to detail the 5- and 20-year period (2021 – 2041) housing need in View Royal;
• revising an existing housing policy, Policy HS1.9 Innovative Approaches, by adding shelters for persons experiencing homelessness and housing for those at risk of homelessness;
• adding a new policy, Policy HS1.12 Non-Market Units, within Section 3: Housing, to support the development of non-market housing for lower-income populations through collaborative efforts with agencies and governments;
• deleting existing Large Lot Residential (R-L) and Residential (R) land use designations and replacing with a new Small-Scale, Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) land use designation defined as follows: uses include detached and attached dwellings, such as detached residential, secondary suite, garden suite, duplex, rowhouse, townhouse, house-plex, and apartments; buildings up to three storeys; and a maximum of six (6) dwelling units;
• adding a new Hospital Transit-Oriented Area (HTOA) land use designation, and amending the existing land use designations of all properties within 200 metres of the identified transit exchange bus stop to the new HTOA land use designation, defined as follows: uses include mixed-use with apartments, visitor accommodations, restaurants, retail, office, institutional (i.e. Hospital), and Civic Use (e.g. daycares, libraries, public gathering and amenity spaces); buildings up to 10 Storeys; and density up to 3.5 Floor Space Ratio (FSR);
• adding a new Neighbourhood Village (NV) land use designation, and amending the existing land use designations of all properties within 201 and 400 metres of the identified transit exchange bus stop to the new NV land use designation, defined as follows: uses include small-scale, mixed-use buildings, such as multi-unit housing and community-serving commercial and civic uses (schools, offices, restaurants, retail, small grocery store, and community spaces); buildings up to six storeys; and density up to 2.5 FSR; and
• adding a new policy, LU 4.14 Mixed Commercial Development, to Section 1: Land Use and Urban Design, which states the following: Development of four-storeys or greater should incorporate commercial or public use space.

Further to the above, a summary of the proposed land use designations is provided in the following table.

In addition to the above listed amendments, all municipalities are required to align their zoning bylaws with their OCPs and IHNR to pre-zone for the total amount of housing their community needs. The zoning bylaw amendments that Council previously adopted to permit Small-Scale, Multi Unit Housing (SSMUH) and the Transit-Oriented Area (TOA) in the zoning bylaw satisfy the 5- and 20- year housing needs, which are 842 and 2889 dwelling units, respectively. Moreover, if every SSMUH parcel in the Town is redevelopment into three to six units, it would create approximately 9255 dwelling units. It is highly unlikely that each SSMUH parcel will be redeveloped over the next 20 years; however, SSMUH zoning alone meets the Town’s housing need targets.

As noted above, Council requested that an amendment to the OCP be included to encourage commercial or public use space in new developments. The proposed amendment is as follows:

• Adding a new policy, LU 4.14 Mixed Commercial Development, to Section 1: Land Use and Urban Design, which states the following: Development of four-storeys or greater should incorporate commercial or public use space.

Impacts and implications can be summarized as follows:

Community Impact: Provided that Council gives introductory readings of the bylaw, a public hearing could be scheduled for the fall in order to meet the provincial deadline of December 31, 2025. This would allow members of the public to provide comment on the draft amendments. Advertisements will be provided in accordance with the Town’s Public Notification Bylaw.

Financial Implication: The Town will incur legal costs associated with a legal review of the proposed bylaw.

Inter-governmental Relations Impact: Prior to public hearing, staff will refer the amendment bylaw to external agencies for review and comment, including the Capital Regional District, and school district.

ALIGNMENT:

The recommended option aligns with the Town’s following core guiding documents as follows:

Strategic Plan:

• Sustainable Development
  Goal 1: Managed Growth
  Official Community Plan (OCP) review to align with Housing Needs Report and Zoning Bylaw, update Development Permit Area design guidelines, and other aspects of the OCP.
• Enhance Liveability
  Goal 3: Access a broad range of housing options to meet the needs of various ages, family types and incomes.
  3a| Interim Housing Needs Assessment
• Community Engagement and Good Governance
  Goal 1: Strong and active citizen participation in community engagement in Town of View Royal meetings, open houses, surveys, budget development.

Official Community Plan:

• 2011 OCP: Community Vision
• Goal 2: Create an inclusive community that provides housing, transportation and healthy living options, and services and facilities for families and individuals of diverse backgrounds, cultures, ages and economic means.
• Goal 9: Ensure that all citizens of View Royal have opportunities to be informed and meaningfully involved in planning and decision-making processes.

Other Policy Documents: N/A

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOAL:

The desired level of public participation for the recommended option is:

☐ Inform ☒ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower ☐ N/A

TIME CRITICAL:

Given the need to align the OCP with the Interim Housing Needs Report and provincial housing legislation (Bill 44 and 47) by December 31, 2025, this report is time critical for Council to review.

CONCURRENCE:

REVIEWED BY:

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Draft Amendment Bylaw No. 1156, 2025