Please note:
If you have questions regarding the building size or parking requirements for new small-scale multi-unit housing (like laneway homes, fourplexes and sixplexes) please refer to the Zoning Bylaw Rewrite project.
If you have questions regarding the building size or parking requirements for new small-scale multi-unit housing (like laneway homes, fourplexes and sixplexes) please refer to the Zoning Bylaw Rewrite project.
The Burnaby 2050 project will help us develop a new Official Community Plan that will guide and manage Burnaby’s growth over the next 25 years in a way that reflects our community’s aspirations and values. The renewed OCP will be contemporary and considerate of emerging trends, issues, challenges and opportunities—particularly in areas of housing affordability, climate change and resilience. It will set out the priorities, goals and policies for the City to work towards over the short, medium and long term.
We have completed all four phases of engagement on the Official Community Plan (OCP) and are now in the process of adopting the OCP Bylaw. On September 9, the OCP was received by Council for First and Second Reading. A Public Hearing on the OCP was held on October 6. The OCP will go to Third Reading on October 14 before adoption by the end of this year.
The OCP will serve as a framework for City Council decision-making and city-wide planning by guiding where and how development can occur, including residential, commercial, industrial and recreational areas. Following adoption, all subsequent bylaws, policies, strategies and plans will need to be consistent with the new OCP. If they are not, an OCP amendment may be required.
Yes. The OCP does not remove single-family zoning. Even after the OCP is adopted, single-family homes can still be renovated or built.
Last year, on July 1, 2024, the City of Burnaby made changes to the Zoning Bylaw. These changes are not part of the OCP project.
The changes were made in response to provincial legislation that required cities to allow more types of housing in single- and two-family areas.
A new zone was created for single- and two-family areas called the “Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH)“ zoning district. This zone still allows single-family homes, as well as laneway homes, secondary suites, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and on some properties, fiveplexes and sixplexes.
For more information about the provincial legislation to introduce Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing across BC, click here.
For more information about the regulations in the Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (R1) zoning district, click here.
If you want to change the zoning rules, for example, to require buildings to be smaller or further apart, you would need to change the Zoning Bylaw, not the OCP.
The OCP is a long-term planning document that will guide the City’s growth for the next 25 years and beyond. As such, the designations in the OCP may exceed baseline provincial requirements in order to account for local growth priorities and to ensure that we are meeting projected community needs into 2050.
We have completed all 4 phases of public engagement. Engagement began in summer 2022 and concluded in spring 2025. The OCP will be submitted for adoption in fall 2025. It will then go through First and Second Reading, Public Hearing, and Third Reading, before Final Adoption by the end of this year.
A Land Use Map is a parcel-based tool that indicates the future land use designation of each property in the city, making it easier to understand potential development and zoning requirements.
The map provides guidance on the potential height of buildings and location of different land uses (e.g. agricultural, residential, industrial, commercial, etc.) and is supported by policies in the OCP.
The Land Use Map will be implemented when City Council adopts the OCP bylaw. It is anticipated that this will happen at the end of 2025. When the Land Use Map is implemented, it will not change the existing Zoning Districts. The Land Use Map will be used to help guide property owners if they wish to apply to change their Zoning District to align with the map. Council will use the map to help guide their decisions on whether to approve a rezoning application. The Land Use Map may be considered a “vision map” that extends well beyond 25 years. There is no expectation that all parcels will change their zoning to align with the OCP land use designations by 2050, since growth and redevelopment will take place organically over time.
The Land Use Map shows the future land use designation for each parcel of land in the city. Each designation is displayed as a different colour and has corresponding regulations on how it can be developed, including height and types of uses allowed on the parcel.
To allow for more flexibility, some parcels have been assigned two designations: a base designation (shown as a coloured fill on a parcel) and an overlay designation (shown as a coloured outline). Parcels with two designations may include uses from either designation, a mix of both, or have further conditions. Please refer to Table 2: Mixed Use Sites Overlay Conditions in OCP Part B: Land Use Framework.
Land use designations describe the long-term intended use of each parcel in the city, including residential, employment, institutional, park, etc. They indicate the potential future land use if someone voluntarily rezones or redevelops their property.
Land use overlays are shown as a coloured outline around the parcel in the land use map and are used to indicate that additional or alternate uses may be allowed in the future. If a site with an overlay is redeveloped it may include land uses from either the base or the overlay land use designation, or a mix of both, or have further conditions.
It means that there are additional optional uses for this property in the future. The overlay does not impact the base designation.
If you do not wish to sell or redevelop your property: these overlays have no impact as the map is showing future potential uses. It does not change the existing zoning district or the current use of individual homes. Property owners are not required to move, redevelop, or sell if they do not wish to. The purpose of the park or institutional land use overlays is only to guide potential future development.
If you voluntarily choose to sell or redevelop your property: the School District or the City may be interested in your property(ies) and may wish to negotiate acquisition to facilitate the expansion of the school or park in the future. If this is the case, you will still have the choice not to sell the property to the City or School District.
Changes to designations in the Land Use Map reflect work done to align the map with other plans and policies, to incorporate feedback from public engagement, and to ensure fairness and consistency between properties in a neighbourhood.
Properties that had a Parks, open spaces natural areas or Institutional designation with a Residential overlay on previous iterations of the Land Use Map now have the Parks or Institutional designation as an overlay over a base Residential designation instead. This modification does not change the uses allowed on the property but was made for clarity.
A future transportation connection shown on an individual property does not necessarily mean that this specific property would be the location for a pathway or road. Future Transportation Connections indicate conceptual locations for future streets, lanes, green corridors or other public realm connections. They indicate that, if a set of properties were assembled for redevelopment in this area, the site plan will need to include a transportation connection (trail, path or road). The alignment of these connections is conceptual and will be adjusted to reflect local needs. The exact location and type of connection would be determined at the time of redevelopment.
The OCP has the potential to influence property values, as changes in land use regulations or development priorities may impact the market dynamics of certain areas. In terms of property valuation, BC Assessment will consider many factors when determining the highest and best use, including zoning, official community plans and recent development trends. For more information, click here.
Properties that have been designated for apartments in the Land Use Map (either through the base or overlay land use designations) will first have to apply to rezone their property to a Zoning District that permits apartments.
The Zoning Bylaw outlines the requirements for height, lot size and building setbacks for each residential Zoning District. To meet these requirements and be able to redevelop the parcel into apartment(s), consolidation of several properties is usually required to meet site configuration requirements and functionality. If your property does not meet the zoning requirements for the apartment Zoning District, you would not be eligible to redevelop to the designated height.
For example, if you currently live in a single-family dwelling and your parcel has been designated as a 6-8 storey low-rise apartment in the Land Use Map, it is unlikely that you would be able to develop these apartments on a single property. A developer would likely have to purchase some of the neighbouring properties in order to meet the minimum lot size prescribed by the Zoning Bylaw to redevelop to this building form.
This phase involved the project initiation and background work being undertaken by staff to prepare for the project.
Planning and Development Committee Reports
This phase focused on raising awareness about the project and inviting the community to learn more about the project and become engaged. Initial engagement involved educating the community on the purpose of an OCP and providing information on how the city has grown along with a series of Insights Reports on topics of interest related to the OCP.
Planning and Development Committee Reports
Events
Thank you to everyone who stopped by to chat with us at one of our summer 2022 pop-up events! We reached over 3,500 people, and learned about your thoughts on a variety of topics, including what you love most about Burnaby:
Phase-1-Surfacing-What-We-Heard-Report.pdf
Display boards
Phase 2 of the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan engagement focused on developing a long-term vision for our city’s growth.
In the summer and early fall of 2023, community members had the opportunity to participate in a survey, speak to us at pop-up events throughout the city, and attend our Visioning Dialogue events. We heard what people love and value about Burnaby, and what their priorities are for the future of the city.
We also invited the host Nations, on whose traditional territory the City of Burnaby is located, to participate and share their vision for the future for urban Indigenous peoples living, learning, working and playing in Burnaby.
Phase 2: Policy Development Approach
City Council received the OCP Policy Development Approach – Policy Reviews and Growth Modelling Report at the November 20, 2023 Council meeting. The report outlines the policy review work to be done by cross-disciplinary staff teams from across the organization in fall 2023 and winter 2024.
Phase 2: What We Learned Report
City Council received the What We Learned Report at the November 20, 2023 Council meeting. The report summarizes the engagement work, the participants and the key findings. Emerging themes from the engagement data include the importance of protecting nature and greenspace, the need to provide more affordable housing choices, the public’s safety concerns, the need for infrastructure and services to keep pace with population growth, and the need to expand public transit and active transportation across the City.
Phase 3 of the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan involved setting the priorities, strategic direction and policies that will support Burnaby in achieving the community’s vision for 2050. Phase 3 included several opportunities for community members, key stakeholders and host Nations to provide feedback on the key sections and policy areas of the OCP including draft policy directions and growth scenarios. Feedback gathered through this phase of engagement were used to refine the draft policies and help prioritize the steps we take to achieve our community’s long-term vision for Burnaby.
Phase 3A: Drafting
We asked the community to provide feedback on high-level policy directions, growth scenarios, and the draft vision, values, and guiding principles.
Phase 3B: Land Use Framework
This was focused on gathering input from community members on the draft Land Use Framework, including the proposed Land Use Designation categories, the draft Land Use Map, and how well the 10 policy objectives are achieved in the framework.
Phase 4 of the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan involved engagement on the draft Official Community Plan (OCP). We asked community members to confirm that the draft goals, objectives, policy directions and land use framework align with the community’s vision for the city’s future.
The City of Burnaby is actively working with the four Host Nations on whose unceded territory the City of Burnaby is located, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Peoples, as well as the Indigenous people living in Burnaby, to advance reconciliation by building and maintaining positive relationships.
Through the process of developing the new Official Community Plan (OCP), we know that the way we live on this land and grow our community needs to be guided by a commitment to decolonize and Indigenize the City’s systems, policies and processes. This means different ways of thinking and doing community planning work together.
We respectfully acknowledge that the City of Burnaby is located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Peoples. Each Nation has distinct histories and distinct traditional territories that fully or partially encompass the city.
We encourage you to learn more about the Host Nations whose ancestors have occupied and used these lands, including parts of present-day Burnaby, for thousands of years.
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