COQUITLAM, B.C., May 1, 2026 – Coquitlam now has a streamlined and user-friendly plan guiding how the city grows, with Council adopting the Interim Official Community Plan (OCP) earlier this week.
Official Community Plans set a vision and shape how a city changes over time, including where housing, services, transportation and amenities are located. Coquitlam’s previous OCP was complex and had expanded to more than 1,000 pages, with overlapping policies, multiple plans and layers of amendments.
The Interim OCP simplifies that framework, making it easier for residents, applicants and staff to navigate and use. This new document also includes updated policies to align with provincial legislation, including requirements related to housing needs, transit-oriented development and small-scale multi-unit housing.
Key Changes in the Interim OCP
This interim update focused on streamlining the City’s former OCP, improving usability by consolidating policies and incorporating changes required or necessitated by provincial housing legislation.
This interim update did not introduce new land use policy or identify new areas for growth, unless required by the provincial housing legislation.
The outcomes of this streamlining project include:
- A 70% reduction to the number of policies
- 55 land use designations were reduced down to 18
- Over 60 maps were simplified to 19 citywide maps
- Over 1,000 design guidelines were reduced to 175
The result is a more accessible, modern plan that supports decision-making while maintaining the City’s long-term vision. The Interim OCP will provide the foundation for a future OCP update project, anticipated to begin later in 2027.
The Interim OCP and additional information on this project is available at coquitlam.ca/OfficialCommunityPlan.
Media contact:
Renée de St. Croix
Director Urban Planning and Design
604-927-3430
devinfo@coquitlam.ca
We acknowledge with gratitude and respect that the name Coquitlam was derived from the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (HUN-kuh-MEE-num) word kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (kwee-KWET-lum) meaning “Red Fish Up the River”. The City is honoured to be located on the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm traditional and ancestral lands, including those parts that were historically shared with the q̓ic̓əy̓ (kat-zee), and other Coast Salish Peoples.