Explanation re: Bill 44 and OCP impacts

The BC government now limits the municipality's ability on holding public hearings. How does this specifically impact the official community plan?

The recent changes introduced by the British Columbia government (primarily through Bill 44) have fundamentally shifted the role of the Official Community Plan (OCP). Under the new legislation, the OCP has been elevated from a general "vision" document to a high-stakes, legally binding "contract" for development.

The most direct impact is that the OCP now serves as the trigger for whether or not the public gets a say in local housing projects.

1. The Mandatory Public Hearing Ban

The most significant change is that municipalities are now prohibited from holding public hearings for residential rezonings that are consistent with the OCP.

• The Logic: If the OCP (which already went through public consultation) says a neighborhood should be "medium density," a developer no longer needs to face a public hearing to build a 6-unit townhouse if the zoning matches that OCP designation.
• The Scope: This ban applies to any development where the residential component accounts for at least 50% of the gross floor area.

2. The Shift in OCP Legal Weight

Because public hearings are now banned for OCP-compliant projects, the OCP is no longer just a set of guidelines.

• Early Engagement Only: Public input has been "front-loaded." The community’s only chance to weigh in on the character of their neighborhood is now during the creation or update of the OCP itself, rather than on a project-by-project basis.
• Reduced Council Discretion: Historically, councils could use the public hearing process to gauge "community sentiment" and potentially reject a project despite OCP compliance. This "political cover" has been largely removed to speed up housing delivery.

3. New Requirements for OCP Content

The province has mandated that OCPs become much more technical and data-driven:

• 20-Year Planning Horizon: Local governments must now update their OCPs every five years and ensure they plan for a 20-year supply of housing based on updated Housing Needs Reports (HNR).
• Mandatory Pre-Zoning: Municipalities are required to "pre-zone" land to meet these 20-year targets. This means the OCP and the underlying zoning must be aligned immediately, removing the multi-step "application-to-rezone" process that usually included public hearings.

4. Direct Impact on Municipal Procedures

For a resident or a municipality like View Royal, this changes how the local government interacts with the province:

• Notice without Hearing: Even when a hearing is prohibited, the municipality must still provide public notice (mail-outs or newspaper ads) before the first reading of a bylaw. However, this notice informs the public of what is happening rather than inviting them to a debate.
• Consistency is Key: If a developer proposes something that is inconsistent with the OCP, a public hearing is still mandatory. This makes the specific wording and land-use designations in the OCP the most critical legal threshold in local planning.

Summary Table: Before vs. After Bill 44

In essence, the OCP has moved from being a "living document" to the primary legal authority that determines land use, effectively bypassing the traditional neighborhood-level protest or support phase for individual buildings.