Burnaby

The province has written to Langley Township after the municipality failed to designate the Willowbrook SkyTrain site a TOD area by June 30 Published Aug 07, 2024  •  Last updated 4 days ago  •  5 minute read The proposed Willowbrook SkyTrain station. Photo by Ministry of Transportation /Government of B.C. The B.C. government has given at least two municipalities until Oct. 31 to implement provincial requirements around housing developments near transit hubs — otherwise the province will impose them. But the mayors of those two cities accused the NDP of provincial “overreach” and interference in municipal jurisdiction. They also say the provincial government has hindered their ability to develop things such as recreation centres and public parks. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. Sign In or Create an Account or Article content Under Bill 47, which passed last fall, Metro Vancouver municipalities were required to pass bylaws to allow housing developments of up to eight to 20 storeys near SkyTrain stations and eight to 12 storeys near bus exchanges. As first reported by Global News, Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming wrote to Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward in late July, after township council missed the June 30 deadline to recognize the site of the future Willowbrook SkyTrain station as a transit-oriented development zone. Similar to threats levelled against West Vancouver over that council’s refusal to allow between four and six units on a single-family lot, the minister said the province has the legal right to force the changes through if necessary. In a statement, the Ministry of Transportation said the letters are designed to give municipalities that haven’t complied with the requirements additional time and that the ministry will continue to work with these communities to implement those changes. Woodward says his council will consider Fleming’s letter in September or October, but believes the new mandatory minimum zoning will increase land values and compromise the ability of municipalities to create healthy, vibrant communities. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Article content Article content “When you mandate densities on every single lot, you really compromise local government’s ability to deliver bonus density with additional amenities for the community,” said Woodward. “You undermine the location of new schools and park sites and the location of community centres. Now we’ll be paying more for land for these amenities and It’s nothing more than a huge giveaway for land speculators in the Willowbrook area.” Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley has similar reservations and said he has also received a letter from Fleming that gives his council until Oct. 31 to fall in line with the province’s density requirements. At a council meeting on June 24, Burnaby council unanimously voted to put off the changes for three months in order to allow staff to further study the legislation and the impacts it will have on neighbourhoods like Brentwood, where residents have signed a petition seeking an exemption from the requirements. “If you’ve driven through Brentwood, you’ll see the amount of density that is there and is going to be there,” said Hurley. “So we’re still not sure if there needs to be more density in that neighbourhood, but we’ll see where it finishes up as we go through our deliberations.” Article content Hurley called the legislation a “big overreach” by the provincial government and accused it of being a “one-size-fits-all” solution that does not take into account the specific needs of each municipality. He believes the province would have been better off to simply impose housing targets on municipalities, which the NDP has done for 40 municipalities, and then leave it up to each community to figure out how to meet those targets. Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said that, unlike Burnaby and Langley Township, his council did vote in favour of transit-oriented-development bylaw changes but still has concerns that the policy will actually reduce housing starts because developers are unclear about what the rule changes mean for projects in the works. “We’ve actually had developers pull projects off the table because they can no longer get financing under the somewhat unpredictable regime that we’re in now, or else they believe the project is no longer viable,” he said, adding council