TOA implementation report card: Fireworks, resistance and a chaotic regulatory patchwork
How six major Metro Vancouver municipalities have performed in implementing provincial Transit-Oriented Development Area (TOA) legislation
Goodman Report
In passing its Transit-Oriented Development Area (TOA) legislation late last year, the provincial NDP government set up an inevitable tug-of-war with BC municipalities, some of which immediately decried the perceived provincial overstep into their jurisdiction.
Now that the June 30, 2024 deadline for municipalities to designate properties within the 104 TOAs across BC has passed, we are beginning to see the resistance emerge, sometimes with fireworks: Burnaby, for example, has refused to participate at all, while Coquitlam has designated properties, but is discouraging applications until some undefined future date when they might enact the policies required to support the new density.
The result is a chaotic regulatory patchwork in the Metro Vancouver region. In most jurisdictions, details that can make or break an investment have yet to be solidified, and timelines to get the complete picture are murky at best. Rumours and speculation are thriving in an environment where policy guidelines are half-baked, and nobody can be certain what will happen next week, let alone next year.
Understanding how the various policy layers affect a property has never been more important. The results of our survey of six major Metro Vancouver municipalities are summarized in the following table and later expanded upon.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to land use policies – if you’re considering buying or selling, please contact us for tailored advice specific to your property.
| City | Details |
|---|---|
| City of Vancouver | Overall Grade: B 👑 Number of TOAs: 29 Progress: Designating bylaw and corresponding rezoning policy adopted. |
| City of Burnaby | Overall Grade: F 🥶 Number of TOAs: 14 Progress: None; consideration of designating bylaw on hold. |
| City of Coquitlam | Overall Grade: C- Number of TOAs: 8 Progress: Designating bylaw adopted. |
| City of New Westminster | Overall Grade: C+ Number of TOAs: 5 Progress: Designating bylaw and development framework adopted. |
| City of Richmond | Overall Grade: C Number of TOAs: 5 Progress: Designating bylaw adopted. |
| City of Surrey | Overall Grade: C Number of TOAs: 15 Progress: Designating bylaw adopted. |
Number of TOAs: 29
Progress: Designating bylaw adopted, along with a corresponding rezoning policy.
The City of Vancouver was one of the few municipalities to roll out a detailed rezoning policy for each of its 29 transit-oriented development areas before the June 30 deadline. Vancouver’s rezoning policy regulates tenure (both strata and rental options), sets inclusionary housing standards (20% of FSR must be below-market rental or social housing), minimum frontages (132-150 ft for towers, 66 ft for low/mid-rise), Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) (none for secured rental with 20% below market), and it addresses built-form guidelines and conflicts between TOA policies and other community plans.
By establishing a detailed framework and setting guidelines for owners and developers, Vancouver has offered clarity and, therefore, is ahead of the pack. This is a pleasant surprise, given that Vancouver has the most TOAs and a history of taking forever to complete seemingly simple policy updates. (Where is the fixed-rate CAC policy already?!)
Closest to transit stations, Vancouver lifted Tier 1 density from 5.0 FSR to 5.5 FSR, suggesting the City is finally beginning to understand the need to provide enough density to make projects financially viable. Further out, however, requiring 20% below market in 6- or 8-storey 3.0 FSR projects is a poison pill seemingly designed to slow the pace of development. Outside the higher-density tower sites closest to stations, the numbers may simply not work.
Number of TOAs: 14
Progress: None. Consideration of a designating bylaw put on hold.
After amassing over $2 billion in reserve funds from high-density development in its four town centres, the City of Burnaby seems to be saying it is no longer interested in helping house the influx of new residents to the region. Council ignored the provincial deadline to designate Burnaby TOAs, instead suggesting that it will see what happens in other cities and revisit at a later date.
Confusingly, Council did not apply the same restraint to provincially enabled new funding mechanisms, instead imposing a massive increase to development fees. As of July 1, 2024, every new apartment built in Burnaby is on the hook for $39,000 in municipal development cost charges (DCCs) and amenity cost charges (ACCs), up catastrophically from the $2,500 that developers previously paid in DCCs for a standard 700 SF apartment. There is no word on whether Burnaby will reduce density bonus charges to offset the 1,500% increase, which creates even more uncertainty.
The policy changes have left developers scrambling to figure out how, or if, they can move existing projects forward, let alone create any of the new housing supply intended by the provincial legislation.
Number of TOAs: 8
Progress: Designating bylaw adopted.
Coquitlam seems to have done the bare minimum to comply with the legislation, while pushing off the changes required to actually implement the policies to some later date. Coquitlam met the provincial deadline to identify properties falling into the TOAs, but provided no guidelines for rezoning those properties, beyond the minimum height and densities mandated by the province.
Within existing high-density areas, the city is folding TOA-designated sites into its community plan framework (“Stage 2”), a process expected to be complete by Spring 2025. For “unplanned areas” where the city hasn’t already allowed for higher densities, rezoning applications are “discouraged and may be considered premature.” The community planning required to allow rezoning applications in these areas will be done later in the implementation process (“Stage 3”), which appears unlikely to begin before well into 2025.
It begs the question of what exactly the point of the TOA legislation, if municipalities can comply simply by saying a site is “designated,” but decline or deflect rezoning applications that follow the prescribed densities.
Number of TOAs: 5
Progress: Designating bylaw adopted, along with a development framework.
New Westminster gets points for being more proactive than most by adopting a designating bylaw, and implementing a framework to help guide land owners through the entitlement process, but appear to be discouraging any real growth in areas where they hadn’t already allowed high-density development.
In general, development proposals for TOA properties in areas designated high-density in the existing OCP can proceed under normal practices, policies and guidelines, with the heights and densities allowed in the provincial minimums. TOA properties requiring rezoning that is not consistent with the existing OCP (e.g, a high-density Tier 1 TOA property in a low- or medium-density OCP-designated area) will be limited to rental tenure, potentially with a below-market component, although details have not been provided.
Number of TOAs: 5
Progress: Designating bylaw adopted.
Richmond has identified properties falling within TOAs surrounding the five Canada Line stations, as required by provincial legislation, but has advanced no specific guidelines or rezoning policies. Most of the TOA properties are located within Richmond’s City Centre Area Plan, so presumably the same policies will apply.
Richmond has an additional layer to consider: the superseding Federal Airport Zoning Regulations may limit heights and densities in the YVR flightpath, regardless of TOA designations.
Number of TOAs: 15
Progress: Designating bylaw adopted.
Surrey has the second-highest number of TOAs and, not surprisingly, is being looked at as a leading source of new housing supply for the region. Similar to Coquitlam and Richmond, Surrey has adopted its designation bylaw, mapping out which properties fall within the various TOA Tiers, but without any specific guidelines or rezoning policies.
Surrey has generally incorporated TOAs into existing OCP and community plans where they exist already, so rezonings will have to comply with OCP and community plan regulations, including design guidelines, affordability requirements, and any other bylaws, plans or policies adopted by Council.