Shaping Our Region's Future

Charrette Overview

In contrast to most provinces in Canada, British Columbia’s local government system has been driven by the wishes of the people it is intended to serve. Where other provinces have developed and implemented grand designs for local government, laying out boundaries and establishing municipal entities in advance of need, British Columbia has established municipalities only where local populations have expressed the desire for such systems and have been willing to support them. Until regional districts were created in 1967, most of the province’s territory remained under direct administration from Victoria. After that time, regional districts were responsible for providing local services to area outside municipalities where residents had expressed the desire for such services and their willingness to pay for them. Regional districts were also empowered to provide regional services to their member municipalities when these were requested.

Community planning and development control were seen as the exclusive preserve of municipalities, which were encouraged and empowered to prepare local official community plans and development regulations. None of these required the approval of the provincial government as was the case in many other provinces. Local community plans were crafted to reflect the priorities of the population they served, and they provided the framework for the provision of water, sewer, roads and other infrastructure and the planning and development of public and private services to the urban population.

There were, however, significant departures from this overall pattern which occurred when the importance of a provincial interest provided justification for direct intervention superseding local control. The most prominent example was the creation of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in 1973 to halt the loss of farmland to urban sprawl. Administered by the Agricultural Land Commission, the ALR prohibited non-farm use of 4.6 million hectares of agricultural land. It is widely considered to be the most important factor in the control of sprawl and the orderly development of urban areas in the last 50 years.

Other examples of the insertion of provincial direction in local development include the prohibition of settlement on land susceptible to flooding and a requirement for professional geotechnical assessments prior to development in geologically hazardous areas.

This brings us to the many-faceted housing crisis of the past 15 years, in which governments at all levels and the industry have been unable to ensure a consistent supply of the appropriate amount and type of housing at a cost that is affordable to Canadian households. Responding to this crisis has been a priority at national, provincial and local government levels. 

Part of the Government of British Columbia’s response has been legislation transforming the process and requirements for local planning and development control. The key statutes are: 

• Bill 44 (Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing): Eliminates traditional single-family zoning in most municipalities with populations over 5,000. Local governments must permit 3 to 4 units on standard single-family lots, and up to 6 units on lots near frequent transit. 

• Bill 46 (Development Financing): Overhauls how cities collect development fees. It transitions cities toward new "amenity cost charges" and replaces ad-hoc developer negotiation with standardized infrastructure financing, while standardizing density bonus rules.

• Bill 47 (Transit-Oriented Development Areas): Requires municipalities to designate strict zones around SkyTrain stations and major transit hubs. It mandates minimum allowable building heights (ranging from 8 to 20+ storeys) and density requirements to build high-density housing directly next to transit.

This legislation fundamentally alters the dynamics of the land market conditions for housing in each urban area in ways that have yet to be fully understood. Just as significantly, the provisions do not take into account the pre-existing area planning and infrastructure planning that is in place in each community.

Charrette Goal

To explore the implications of new housing legislation, at multiple scales, on the future social, economic, and ecological sustainability of a diverse and inclusive metropolitan region of four million people, ensuring growth is aligned with affordability, livability, and climate resilience.

Charrette Objectives

The purpose of the Resilient Region Design Charette is to explore the implications of the legislation at the local area and site levels in three Metro Vancouver municipalities in the context of a set of objectives for the following:

1. Civic Amenities – Assess implications for parks, schools, community centres, and other amenities supporting diverse and inclusive communities.

2. Ecological Protection – Evaluate impacts on ecological systems, hydrology, biodiversity, and climate risk, including opportunities for nature-based solutions and urban green infrastructure.

3. Affordability – Field-test affordability objectives for rental and ownership housing and approaches that mitigate land speculation.

4. Infrastructure & Utilities – Assess how new density affects roads, utilities, infrastructure capacity, and coordinated amenity provision.

5. Construction Innovation – Test advanced construction and delivery approaches that strengthen climate resilience and accelerate the transition to lower-carbon energy and built-form systems.

6. Uncertainty Pricing – Assess the implications of future infrastructure upgrades and incorporate 100-year maintenance demands into design and investment decisions.

7. People Centred & Equity Outcomes –Examine livability, resilience, access to amenities, sense of place, and the equitable distribution of benefits and burdens.

8. Movement Systems – Test how new growth can support fluid, multimodal and environmentally sustainable transportation choices.

9. Governance, Indigenous Rights & Stewardship - Test how intermunicipal coordination and Indigenous rights, knowledge, and stewardship can be meaningfully integrated within rapidly changing growth areas.

10. Economic Resilience - Evaluate how alternative growth scenarios influence municipal fiscal sustainability, investment certainty, and opportunities for living-wage employment

These objectives provide a measurable framework for examining the interconnected challenges between climate, biodiversity, infrastructure, community well-being, and equitable outcomes.

The charrette will enable the Province to assess the impact of its legislation and the potential need for adjustments. It will provide Metro Vancouver with an opportunity to facilitate a deeper understanding of the implications for local and regional planning by working through these at a site level in a way that can inform the work of all member municipalities in navigating through the changes that have been made.

Previous Charrette Publications

The following documents are the outputs from the last major design Charrette that looked at a 100 year vision for the City of North Vancouver.