The City of Coquitlam is streamlining its Official Community Plan (OCP) to make it easier to understand, easier to use and better aligned with new Provincial Housing Changes. Under new provincial legislation, the City is now required to review the OCP every five years. Coquitlam’s next review is anticipated to begin in 2027, with completion targeted for 2030.
This project aims to:
Clarify policy direction by:
This project will not:
Coquitlam's OCP was originally adopted in 2002. Over the last 20 years the OCP has been incrementally reviewed and updated through area and neighbourhood planning processes and housekeeping amendments. Today, the OCP has grown to be over 1,000 pages and includes:
In June 2023, the City initiated the review and streamlining the OCP. However, in late 2023, the Province passed several pieces of housing legislation that significantly changed how local governments could plan for, support and fund growth and development in their communities. The impacts of this legislation made it clear that a simple, easy-to-use document was needed – both to meet the new legislated requirements and to guide future growth management and public consultation.
The policy updates required to support the provincial legislative changes will be provided from other project teams that are undertaking the Provincial Housing Changes work and are being incorporated into the streamlined OCP. No new policy, except what was necessary to align with legislation, will be introduced through the OCP Review Project.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) introduced the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) program in 2023, a $4-billion funding initiative for local governments to streamline planning regulations and boost housing supply. One of the City’s Housing Accelerator Fund initiatives is to update the OCP’s Urban Design Guidelines. The outcome will foster smoother application processes, shorter review timelines, and faster housing construction.
Metro Vancouver updated its regional growth strategy, Metro 2050, in 2023. Every municipality must have a Regional Context Statement – a section in the OCP that shows how the City’s plans line up with the regional vision for growth, housing, jobs and transportation. Updating the OCP’s Regional Context Statement is included in this project.
Streamlining the OCP to a smaller, more user-friendly document will be accomplished by restructuring, consolidating and reformatting. Maps will be consolidated into one clear, citywide set.
Currently, the OCP is made of many citywide, area and neighbourhood plans that were adopted at different times and with different structures. Because of this, the documents often contained different levels of detail, repeat the same policies across the plans and can be difficult to locate all applicable information.
This project proposes a standard OCP structure, including a clear outline (context, vision, goals, objectives, policies and implementation) and consolidation of citywide maps.
Directive | Policy Intent | |
---|---|---|
Required | Express a compulsory obligation | Policy must be followed |
Encouraged | Provides direction for what is expected | Policy should be followed |
To Consider | Identifies what may be suitable | Policy should be considered |
By rewriting each statement using this clear language it becomes easier for staff, applicants and the general public to understand and apply the OCP policies.