White Rock council may not be able to do anything about housing targets imposed by law on the city by the provincial government's Bill 44 – but it's still going to raise its voice in protest.
That was the result of discussion of the Interim Housing Needs Assessment and Report at Monday's (Nov. 4) regular council meeting.
"When does a city like White Rock become full?" Coun. Christopher Trevelyan asked, in response to a corporate report on the issue from planning and development services director Anne Berry.
Council passed the mandatory amendments to update the assessment to bring it in line with requirements of the bill (the province's measure to increase housing supply B.C.-wide through small scale multiple-unit housing, or SSMUH, development), following a motion from Coun. Bill Lawrence.
But it also voted in favour of a friendly amendment from Coun. David Chesney, in which council will, yet again, send a letter to express its displeasure to Victoria for targets it feels don't fit the unique geography and limited developable space in the city.
While Mayor Megan Knight and chief administrative officer Guillermo Ferrero gave their opinion that writing another letter will have minimal impact on the province's decision, other council members said they feel obligated, on behalf of residents, to keep pushing back against the provincial edicts.
In her report, Berry noted that White Rock received an order from the Ministry of Housing on June 30 for 1,067 new units, or 75 per cent of the Provincial Housing Needs Assessment, within five years.
But she also noted that, using a provincially approved housing target calculator, the five-year target should actually be 2,780 new units and 8,816 units over the next 20 years.
Coun. Ernie Klassen asked Berry what such a 20-year assessment would actually mean for the city.
"If we look at, at least, two people per home, we're looking at doubling the population of White Rock in 20 years?" he asked.
Berry responded that it would be less than doubling the population as it now stands (22,000), and noted that Metro Vancouver calculates an average number of unit occupants at 1.4, which would also bring down Klassen's estimate.
But Klassen said he still felt a need for council to raise objections.
"I think I would need to say we need to represent the citizens and fight back on this a little bit before we just go ahead and approve it," Klassen said.
While he acknowledged the city has to follow the law, and, as Ferrero and Knight noted, that cities and municipalities are a creature of the province, he said that the city is within its rights to protest what it views as unfair.
"We are our own entity and we need to, at some point just stand up and say 'you know what? – we just can't do what we're being told to do.'"
Coun. Christopher Trevelyan took up Klassen's call for push-back.
"Has the province given us any information, long term, regarding how much is too much?" he asked.
"As Coun. Klassen pointed out, we're looking at from 50 per cent to doubling the population in 20 years. Do we then double after that? What is the logical extension of this, do we have that data?"
"I'd like to know what the long-term end-game is because there is a finite amount of geographic space, unless we want to squeeze everyone in a 200-square-foot micro unit.
"We have to ask that question at some point."
Chesney said that, to a certain extent, he agreed with both sides of the discussion.
"But I think, at the very least, I'd like to put forward a motion that we register our displeasure to the province and explain to them that White Rock – if we're to believe the statistics – is already the ninth densest city in all of Canada," he said.
"If we start packing in this many more people, our infrastructure – the schools, the hospitals – it will put a tremendous strain on everything.
"We have to keep pushing back and pushing back given the unique situation we find our community to be," he added.
Lawrence accepted the motion as a friendly amendment, and Knight said she had no problem signing another letter on behalf of council, adding she feels newly elected Conservative (former B.C. United) MLA Trevor Halford also has a role to play in going to bat for White Rock on the housing legislation.
The overall motion passed with Klassen and Trevelyan opposed.
In answer to a question from Knight about the discrepancy between the most recent order from the province and the units apparently needed under the general provincial formula, Berry said the order was based on information previously supplied by the city, including a 2021 Housing Needs Assessment, which was in turn partly based on information the 2016 census.
She said she could not predict what the province was going to do and could not rule out the possibility the government would come back with a demand for even more new housing after the first five-year order.
