Coquitlam city council spent its last meeting of 2024 largely blasting the B.C. government on new housing policies that Victoria says will help to bring in more affordable homes, but local officials charge have slowed the industry.
Mayor Richard Stewart and councillors reiterated their comments from nearly every meeting this year at Coquitlam City Hall, as four rezoning bids were introduced for first, second and third bylaw readings on Dec. 9.
Under the province’s new rules, rezoning applications no longer require public hearings and many civic stipulations around density and residential parking have changed. City staff have also spent the past year altering plans and procedures to conform to the province’s housing updates, employing temporary staff to hurry the process.
Last Monday, the biggest rezoning pitch before council, which OK’d the three readings, was for Woodbridge Homes’ proposal for 306 rental units, in three six-storey buildings, at 748–770 Sproule Ave. and 947–957 Robinson St.
According to a report from Chris Jarvie, Coquitlam’s development director, the three buildings would mostly be made up of one-bedroom units, contrary to the city’s push in its Housing Needs Report for more family-oriented units.
Should council give final approval, the city would stand to gain about $6.8 million in development cost charges (DCC), $788,501 in community amenity contributions (CAC) and a $50,000 cash-in-lieu for the two parking stall shortfalls.
Thompson twins
As well, council OK’d three bylaw readings for two bids on Thompson Avenue in Oakdale, close to the Sproule site.
Grimwood Architecture has a rezoning application for 597 Thompson Ave. to change the land-use designation from single-family residential for 19 townhomes.
Coun. Dennis Marsden flagged the residents’ fatigue with construction in the neighbourhood and asked the developer to ensure off-street trades parking, while Coun. Robert Mazzarolo cited the letters that council received from area residents about the planned density onsite.
Still, under the province’s new legislation, the property is within Tier 3 of the Burquitlam transit-oriented area, which allows an FAR up to 3.0 and an eight-storey height limit — without any residential parking, Jarvie wrote in his report.
If OK’d by council at a later date, the development would bring in $673,500 in DCC and $154,900 in CAC, he noted.
The second bid that city council advanced is for Guildford Brook Development Corp. (Yashpal Parmar) for nine townhouse units in three buildings at 586 Thompson Ave. — land that, under Victoria’s new rules, can also rise to eight storeys without any residential parking requirements.
However, like Grimwood, the developer has submitted a letter foregoing their entitlements allowed under Bill 47.
On the Guildford plan, the city could gain $299,000 in DCC, $65,200 in CAC if council grants final approval.
Noura timeline
But it was the Noura Homes application for four single-family residential lots on Burke Mountain — and one parcel to protect a watercourse — that drew the most voices about the provincial housing mandates and civic deadline.
The company is asking for a zoning change to create a subdivision at 3480 Queenston Crt.
Under the province’s Bill 44, Coquitlam has until June 30, 2025, to change its zoning bylaws to permit Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) for up to four homes on a lot.
However, because of little guidance from the province on the housing changes, city staff say they have yet to finalize the SSMUH zones, thus putting the Noura proposal in peril, Jarvie wrote in his report.
“Staff have advised applicants with in-stream rezoning and subdivision applications for single-family development to await adoption of the new zones to better understand the implications for their project,” he wrote, noting Noura knows the challenges and wants to move forward anyway.
If OK’d the project would bring in about $189,423 in DCC and $31,350 in CAC for city infrastructure and amenities.
Marsden said the province’s new rules have created an uncertainty in the market and the municipality is suffering. And he encouraged Noura and city staff to expedite and finalize the bid before the June 30, 2025, deadline kicks in.
Jarvie said a subdivision plan takes about a year to iron out, and should Noura not have the proposal ready in six months, the current bylaw would lapse and the company faces going “back to square one,” Jarvie told council.
Asked by Coun. Brent Asmundson if the Noura plan will be fast-tracked and jump other in-stream applications, Jarvie said the proposal “will be reviewed in the normal process.”
Andrew Merrill, general manager of planning and development, said many active bids are impacted by the provincial legislation and, next year, city planners will try to find ways to make sure the June 30 deadline is met for SSMUH plans.
“We have to move projects forward as much as we can,” Coun. Craig Hodge said, while Mazzarolo blamed Victoria for legislation that was rushed and done without municipal consultation, “to put it quite kindly and diplomatically.”
“This legislation puts us in a precarious situation,” he said.
Mayor Stewart was blunt, labelling the new housing rules as “ill-advised” in an effort to speed up housing development.
“It has done so much damage to the ability of councils across the province to approve housing expeditiously,” he said.
“It has slowed down the development of housing in the province from a municipal sense, but also from the developers’ point of view because, while [Noura] is prepared to step up and take a risk, a lot of developers are unable to do that or their financing won’t let them, so we need to continue to tell the province, ‘Please, don’t do stupid things again.’”
Coun. Trish Mandewo, the president of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), said the provincial legislation is in place because Victoria and Ottawa were frustrated with B.C. municipalities not moving more housing bids forward to meet demand.
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