Kamloops councillors chafe at provincial bid to take housing approval away from local government

Mar 8, 2022 | 4:19 PM

KAMLOOPS — A pair of Kamloops councillors are pushing back on the NDP government’s bid to fast-track housing development in B.C. cities.

Housing minister David Eby says too many housing proposals are getting hung up at municipal council stage, stalling the pace of expansion needed to keep up with B.C.’s population growth. Eby says the government is considering introducing changes that would take final authority on housing permit decisions away from city councils.

Proposed developments that fit the local community plan could potentially forego the public hearing process and get the green light from the province.

As the City of Kamloops Development, Engineering and Sustainability Department’s annual report was delivered to council Tuesday (Mar. 8), Councillor Arjun Singh queried Director Marvin Kwiatkowski about the potential impacts of that change.

“I know that public hearings are a horrible process — mostly on controversial issues. What are better processes we can use to do this work?” asked Singh. “What I’m concerned about is us losing, long-term, more support for development if people have a backlash around not being able to come to some sort of public hearing-type process.”

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“The provincial government is going to basically limit people’s statutory right to speak up at public hearings to defend the impact on their properties of these new developments,” added Councillor Denis Walsh. “I guess I’m really concerned that just because the zoning fits the community plan, then it’s up to city council, but we have no way of reading and judging from the community.”

Kwiatkowski told council it may be able to trigger public hearings on more controversial developments, but Singh countered that brings up a dilemma.

“How do we know it’s controversial before we know? We need to figure out a process,” said Singh. “I counted a few hundred, maybe more, public hearings over my time (on council) and the one’s that are controversial, they need to happen in some way, shape or form.”

Eby says the states of California, Oregon and Washington have recently enacted similar regulations. He noted any potential changes could be brought forward this fall.

by James Peters

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Kamloops councillors chafe at provincial bid to take housing approval away from local government

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