Potential legislation announced by the province last week could see more high-density housing, but careful planning will be needed if things proceed.
That’s from the mayors of Courtenay and Comox. The proposed legislation would apply to communities with populations over 5,000 people, and three to four units must be allowed on lots currently zoned for single-family or duplex use.
It would also remove the need for hearings on projects that align with official community plans, and those plans will need to be reviewed more regularly.
For Comox mayor Nicole Minions, two impacts can be expected: the enticement to build more duplex, tri-plex and four-plex will exist in new subdivisions, and the removal of public hearings could bring good and bad changes depending on how things move.
She adds in their case, the town’s OCP will be renewed for 2024 and it will be a more modern plan if the legislation change goes through.
However, what gets built may also depend on several factors.
“I think it will really depend on what the economy is doing and what the buyers are buying at that time,” said Minions. “I think the fact that it opens up what options can be built voluntarily, we’ll probably just see more of a mix.”
Minions says there is not much land that the town owns that could be developed, and it will depend a lot more on publicly owned land. With those changes, they will also need to pay close attention to infrastructure needs.
“That’s one of the biggest things we are looking at is road, sewer, water, recreation services. ‘With what we have now, what can we accommodate?’,” said Minions.
“The biggest one we have to look at is ‘do our parks and our recreation facilities also accommodate that one to two per cent growth’.”
She adds those will be closely looked at as they develop their new OCP.
The considerations are echoed by Courtenay mayor Bob Wells, who adds that more support from the province will be needed for infrastructure to support potential growth.
“It comes down to things like water pressure, sewage and the actual treatment of it and roads and bridges,” said Wells. “Those are the things we are already talking to the ministry of transportation about, and making sure that they’re keeping up.”
Wells adds that this is important because many sections of Cliffe Avenue and the parkway towards Highway 19 are provincially owned and maintained.
He adds most of the land that will be developed for the housing will be privately owned, and pre-approved housing plans may also be useful in meeting the supply and demand.
