White Rock council endorses OCP adoption
Published 8:31 pm Monday, September 14, 2026
White Rock council has given third reading to, and endorsed final adoption of the newest Official Community Plan bylaw amendment.
The votes (Couns. Anthony Manning, Christopher Trevelyan, David Chesney and Susan Bains for; Mayor Megan Knight, Couns. Bill Lawrence and Elaine Cheung) came after a public hearing on the bylaw attended by some 50 people.
The latest amendment, while confining highrises and the greatest density of building to the town centre, also designated North Bluff Road closest to the town centre for lower-rise re-development over the 20-year life of the plan.
Contentious expansion of lower-rise development further east and west on North Bluff had been removed after pushback from the public at the last OCP public hearing on July 27.
Many who spoke said they were in opposition to the bylaw, voicing concerns that it locks in re-development, while Knight took pains to explain to some speakers that the OCP is subject to review every five years, and each new development proposal is subject to extensive study by staff.
There were also concerns voiced that this version of the bylaw was somehow being rushed through just prior to October’s civic election.
Monday’s vote, brought to an end an extensive process that has been going on for some three years, and only extended when the current majority on council rejected the previous bylaw amendment, asserting that its dense redevelopment focus, driven by provincial housing edicts, did not accurately reflect the views of White Rock residents.
“What was proposed with the original OCP was density I could not accept,” Trevelyan said, prior to the vote.
“It was towers spreading far outside the town centre, the centre, the east side of White Rock, the east side transition area, the west side transition area, along Thrift and North Bluff, and, to me, that was just unacceptable.”
Support for the current version of the OCP – which Trevelyan admitted was “a compromise” – runs 2 to 1 over opponents based on feedback received by the city, he pointed out.
“The people who are against it are against it, not because they want more density, but because even the modest density proposed in the centre is too much.”
More to come…