White Rock Mayor Megan Knight and several councillors issued a grave warning to residents at Monday’s (Nov. 27) council meeting that impending provincial legislation introduced by the NDP government – but not yet passed – could change the face of the city.
Knight said that among the sweeping legislation is a measure that might enable “a minimum of 20 storeys within 400 metres of a transit station – and there’s nothing we can say about it.”
“I don’t think a lot of people know about this,” she added, urging residents of the Semiahmoo Peninsula to contact local MLAs with their concerns.
She and Couns. Ernie Klassen and Christopher Trevelyan were referencing a letter to Knight from housing minister Ravi Kahlon, in which he summarized Bill 44, Bill 46 and Bill 47.
The legislation – which Kahlon maintains is intended to support local government housing initiatives – would take much zoning power and the option to schedule public hearings for projects consistent with the Official Community Plan out of White Rock’s hands.
Knight sounded a warning bell in particular about Bill 47, designed to help get new housing built near high-frequency transit stops and exchanges. If passed, it would allow the province to set minimum allowable height and density of development in Transit Oriented Development (TOD) areas.
Local governments will be required to designate these areas near transit hubs, Knight noted. While the planned Bus Rapid Transit corridor along King George Boulevard will end at Semiahmoo Centre, she warned that future transit hubs could be located in White Rock.
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Knight also noted that Bill 44 – aimed at countering the housing shortage by allowing small-scale multi-unit housing across B.C. – would permit up to four units in single-detached and duplex zones and up to six units in single-detached and duplex zones close to bus stops with frequent service.
“They’re dumping a lot on us,” Knight said, while city CAO Guillermo Ferrero underlined that, if the legislation goes through, the province would require White Rock and other municipalities to update their official community plans and zoning bylaws to reflect the legislation by as soon as June of next year.
Ferrero also pointed out that, under Bill 46, Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) – which have have been negotiated on a per-project basis in the past – will be replaced by a provincially-set structure of Amenity Cost Charges (which will allow municipalities to collect money, or in-kind contributions for such amenities as community centres, recreation centres and libraries).
Kahlon’s letter said that secondary suites, or accessory dwelling units, would also be allowed on single-detached lots throughout B.C. under the legislation.
Trevelyan said that – while he acknowledged that local governments are essentially “the creation of the province” under B.C.’s Municipal Act – “we need to advocate and show our concerns.”
Klassen, also echoing Knight’s warning, said “we as a council need to take a stand and raise our concerns and register our opposition to this.”
He also noted his concerns about Bill 45, raised in another letter to council from B.C. United shadow minister of municipal affairs Dan Ashton, which shifts to local governments the responsibility for dismantling unsafe encampments of the unhoused.
Ashton wrote that “where there is insufficient overnight shelter space, the legislation acknowledges the Charter-protected right of unhoused individuals to take temporary overnight shelter in parks or public spaces.”
But Ashton pointed out that “recent court decisions have granted injunctions for the decampment of dangerous encampments without the precondition of available shelter space or housing.
“It is important to emphasize that the overarching responsibility and jurisdiction to create and manage shelters lies with the Province of B.C. and not municipalities,” Ashton wrote.