White Rock is inching its way toward a revision of the Official Community Plan amendment, at the same time responding to the provincial government – as Mayor Megan Knight put it – giving the city “a warning shot” about missing its December deadline to approve the document.
At Monday’s (April 27) council meeting, staff – in the person of planning and development services director Wayne Berg – sought, and received, clarification from Coun. Anthony Manning on his suggested revisions of the previous draft OCP amendment (which a majority of council rejected on March 9).
That enabled council to vote (in a 4-3 split, with Knight and councillors Elaine Cheung and Bill Lawrence opposed) to endorse a plan of action suggested by Berg in his corporate report (other outlined options were going back to the original OCP amendment, or simply doing nothing).
In the chosen option, council authorizes staff to retain consultants Urban Systems to evaluate Manning’s plan and report back with a proposed timeframe to incorporate the changes into the OCP.
The consultants would also provide an analysis of whether the changes would meet the 20-year housing target of 8,800 new units for White Rock set by the provincial government and support preparation of ‘graphic updates’ necessary for revision of the draft OCP.
The Manning plan, endorsed by councillors Christopher Trevelyan, David Chesney and Susan Bains, aims to refocus future height and density of development away from the lower hillside and into the town centre and along North Bluff Road (16 Avenue).
All four councillors have been adamant in their opposition to an OCP that includes a North Bluff Corridor extending down the hillside as far as Thrift Avenue.
Features of the Manning plan clarified at the meeting include a base height for the town centre of 16 storeys, and buildings of between four and six storeys along North Bluff Road between High Street and Nichol Road and Kent Street and Stayte Road.
In those areas there would also be an overall blanket potential increase of 20 per cent in height as “density bonusing” for affordable housing, Manning stated.
Peace Arch Hospital Foundation lands and Fraser Health-owned land around the hospital on North Bluff would allow 15 institutional storeys – the equivalent of 20 to 22 storeys – but restricted to hospital use, not residential.
Public engagement on the revised property use would consist of the public hearing on the revised plan, Manning confirmed.
Floor-area ratio and density calculations would remain the same as in the earlier draft, Manning agreed.
As Berg pointed out in his report, having the consultants vet Manning’s plan would provide “additional technical validation regarding compliance with provincial housing targets.”
Trevelyan said that based on his reading of the most recent OCP draft, it was never explicitly stated how many units the plan would provide, only that it would fulfil provincial requirements.
“We want to look at this one to see if it’s close, or matches, or even potentially exceeds that number,” he said.
“I think it’s very important, in good faith, to report to the province that this could actually increase housing in White Rock. It’s spreading out quite a bit longer along North Bluff,” he added.
“It’s very germane to point out that this is not a councillor saying, ‘Let’s hack everything down to three storeys and call it a day.’ There’s a big difference. This is local government responding to feedback we have received. It’s not about defying the province in any way.”
In an April 20 letter to the city, assistant deputy housing minister Jessica Brooks asked for a response within two weeks of receipt “with White Rock’s next steps and timeline for achieving compliance with the legislative requirements.”
The four-councillor majority authorized a letter laying out what the city was doing, but also including (as proposed by Manning and Trevelyan) a summary of previous discussion points about the proposed revision as a rationale for the additional work.
These include that it is intended to better align with the Metro 2050 Urban Centre plan and Surrey’s Semiahmoo Town Centre proposal, that it would provide east-west access along a four-lane road rather than moving it down to a two-lane road,while noting that the proposed TransLink bus rapid transit plan, which had driven some of the thinking for the draft OCP amendment, is not currently funded.
“We are working for this (the province’s request) – there shouldn’t be any conflict,” Bains observed.
“The letter from the province is in no way unexpected,” Trevelyan said. “Of course – they have given a directive, and we are ultimately creatures of the province. But we also have responsibilities to our residents to make the best policies we can.”
Knight voiced concern that the Manning plan would not receive adequate public input.
“We’re not doing any public consultation on these new lands that have been added…You’re changing all along North Bluff and not doing anything (about consultation) – we’re just doing the regular public hearing (on the revised OCP amendment),” she said.
She also summarized opposition to moving ahead with the Manning plan.
“There’s potential intervention by the province. We keep dragging this out and making it longer and longer. My hope is they don’t throw somebody into our planning department, but they could do that,” she said.
“As long as everybody’s ready to take that gamble – I’m not, but the four of you are – so, we’re going that route.”