Spoke before Council today in favouring of adopting in principle the interim Official Development Plan.

Today City Council will decide whether to approve Vancouver’s draft official development plan (ODP) which sets out a long term vision for development and land use across Vancouver. The plan aims to increase housing delivery and plan for more complete, walkable and connected communities across the city and is largely based on the Vancouver Plan (VP).

Vancouver is provincially required to have an ODP that plans for the city’s projected housing needs in place by June 30, 2026 under the Vancouver Charter (a later deadline than other cities!). Once adopted, new projects requiring rezoning that are largely residential and consistent with the ODP will not have a public hearing, and council may waive hearings for other consistent projects.

The ODP front loads engagement at the planning stage, maps out for people where development is planned in their neighborhoods, and makes it cheaper and quicker to build housing in an affordability crisis.

I have some questions about how new parks have been identified, how the plan will provide for more community centres with projected growth and how the plan ties into the city’s social housing targets. The plan points to documents like VanPlay for parks and community centres and the Housing Strategy for social housing targets but it would be helpful for the plan to spell out delivery with population increases.

Overall though, having a city wide plan in place to ensure well thought out walkable neighbours close to our daily needs, and along transit routes is long overdue and provides predictability for residents and planners alike.