Squamish council has adopted a bylaw amendment that will prohibit public hearings for developments that meet certain residential thresholds, which comes in part due to provincial legislation.
At a Dec. 5 regular business meeting, council unanimously passed the second and third of a land development procedures bylaw amendment where public hearings will not be permitted to be held if a development has housing as part of the building that is greater than 50% floor area. Additionally, temporary use permit (TUP) renewals will be delegated to staff, unless specified otherwise by council, and development permit (DP) extensions are being delegated to staff.
At a Dec. 12 special business meeting, council unanimously adopted these amendments.
“Now in effect as of Nov. 30, zoning bylaw amendments where the purpose is to permit residential use and residential use also makes up more than 50% of the gross floor area proposed, a public hearing is no longer permitted to be held,” Philip Gibbins, a municipal planner, told council on Dec. 5.
“The legislation requires that notice is given prior to the bylaw being presented to council for the first reading. This is essentially the same notice requirements and information that will be normally provided for a public hearing,” he continued.
The public hearing changes come from the province passing Bill 44, which was aimed at increasing the housing supply. This is the same bill that will allow four, and sometimes six, units on single-family zoned lots.
Gibbins said the B.C. legislation will also require the District to update the official community plan more often and report on housing needs differently, though he did not specify how. The public can still provide input to the District of Squamish for developments via the development showcase, public information meetings and letters to council, all of which can happen before readings by council.
“Where there is considerable interest in an application, a public hearing can still be held where requested by council at first reading, if not prohibited by legislation,” he said.
The senior director of community development, Jonas Velaniskis, said staff will probably revisit this bylaw in 2024 to do further amendments because of the provincial changes.
“We're in an interesting time given the provincial legislation changes that are literally happening as we're talking about this and it will require us revisiting it in the not-so-distant future,” said Coun. Jenna Stoner in her comments on the second and third reading.
“I'm impressed with how nimble we've been to make these changes to stay onside with an ever-changing environment from the province,” said Mayor Armand Hurford.
Coun. Chris Pettingill was reluctant to delegate the TUP renewals, stating he hoped delegation would be an option not the default. However, he said with the bylaw potentially coming back in short order it provides a trial period.
“We want good decisions, but we don't want to waste resources on getting to those decisions and I hope this will help get us there,” he said of the bylaw overall.
View the majority of this bylaw amendment discussion from the Dec. 5 regular business meeting on the District’s YouTube channel.
