Royal Oak Urban Village Community Plan

Community plans are documents that guide the mid- to long-term future development, growth and change of a Burnaby neighbourhood, in alignment with the Regional Growth Strategy, the Official Community Plan, and other citywide strategies and policies.

More recent community plans include policy direction for topics such as land use and development, sustainability, housing, community amenities and services, transportation and parks and public spaces that will help the community grow and thrive in a well-managed and strategic way.

As we develop community plans, we consult extensively with the public including area property owners, residents and other community partners before presenting the final plans to City Council for consideration and adoption. Examples of recently adopted community plans in Burnaby include the Bainbridge Urban Village Community Plan (2022) and the Lochdale Urban Village Community Plan (2022).

As community and development needs change over time, Council may amend or update community plans. The Royal Oak Urban Village Community Plan was originally adopted in 1999. Since then, many priorities and directions have shifted at the neighbourhood level, citywide and beyond–for example, around transportation, land use and development potential, housing needs, population growth, climate action and resiliency.

Royal Oak is a significant Urban Village neighbourhood in south Burnaby that is located close to the SkyTrain. A new community plan for this continually growing neighbourhood would take a renewed look at future policy direction in line with these shifting priorities and community needs.

On April 15, 2024, City Council authorized staff to proceed with Phase 2 public consultation for the Royal Oak Urban Village community planning process (see report here). Phase 2 public consultation will be conducted in late spring 2024, with various opportunities for the public to participate and provide feedback on the Phase 2 detailed draft plan directions. In early to mid May, we will launch a media marketing campaign to notify as many members of the public as possible on these upcoming opportunities. You can also sign up to stay informed about project related news by clicking on the "Follow" button at the top of our project webpage.

We anticipate that the majority of community feedback will be received in May and June of 2024, though we will continue to welcome community input as we develop a finalized draft community plan to present to City Council towards fall 2024.

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Once a community plan is adopted by Council, development does not necessarily begin immediately or in all areas of the neighbourhood in the short term.

If a property owner and/or developer is interested in redeveloping a property in line with the community plan, they will in many cases still be required to submit a site-specific development application for review by staff and Council. Further, community plans are meant to provide policy direction for land owners when they are interested in exploring options for their land, which is why growth and change in a community occurs incrementally over the long term.

In Burnaby, when redevelopment of existing purpose-built rental developments are proposed, tenant protections are guaranteed through the City’s Tenant Assistance Policy (TAP). For more information, please see the Burnaby Tenant Assistance webpage.

Bill 47-2023: Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, 2023 received royal assent in November 2023. Bill 47 establishes Transit-Oriented Areas (TOAs), or geographical areas within a prescribed distance from a transit station (e.g. a SkyTrain Station or bus exchange), in municipalities across the Metro Vancouver region. The legislation also mandates that within TOAs, minimum building density and height requirements must be allowed for new developments.

The Phase 2 detailed draft plan directions for Royal Oak, including the draft land use designations, have taken this new legislation into account and align with the provincially mandated minimum allowable building heights within TOAs. For more information, see Section 4.1 of the Royal Oak Urban Village Phase 2 public consultation discussion guide.

While the Royal Oak community planning process is underway, the City is also working on other major ongoing initiatives including the Burnaby Official Community Plan Update (Burnaby 2050) and the Zoning Bylaw Rewrite. The structure of the draft land use designations outlined in the Phase 2 materials generally align with relevant directions of these other initiatives, including, for example, the general land use designations structure that will be applied citywide in the new OCP, as well as the general categorization and classification of zoning districts that will be included in the new Zoning Bylaw.

Although the new Royal Oak Plan is anticipated to be adopted in late 2024, before the completion of the Burnaby OCP update and the Zoning Bylaw rewrite, it is anticipated that sections of the new Zoning Bylaw will be brought forward earlier this summer, to provide additional clarity as to the zoning districts that would be supported for each corresponding land use designation category identified in the Royal Oak plan area boundary. These new zoning districts will also provide clarity on required inclusionary/replacement rental housing provisions (e.g. for apartment or mixed-use developments), as well as other standard requirements, for new developments to help the city achieve its various goals around housing, climate action and other topics.

The City is currently working on the BC Parkway Enhancement Project which will develop a long-term plan to enhance the BC Parkway corridor from Boundary Road to the Royal Oak SkyTrain station, focusing mainly on the section of the parkway in the Metrotown downtown core.

Although the project does not focus specifically on the section of the parkway spanning across Royal Oak (between the Royal Oak SkyTrain station and Gilley Avenue), there is opportunity for the outcome of the project to influence how future improvements and enhancements to the BC Parkway within Royal Oak are implemented in the longer term.

The Phase 2 detailed draft plan directions present potential strategies for the future enhancement of the BC Parkway in Royal Oak as this was identified during Phase 1 by the community as an important priority. See Part 5 of the Royal Oak Urban Village Phase 2 public consultation discussion guide for further details.

As part of the community planning process, it is important to consider where additional open park spaces can be accommodated as the community continues to grow in the longer-term future. Aside from more open green space, larger parks can accommodate active outdoor recreation facilities (e.g. playgrounds, sports fields, courts, picnic areas) as well as indoor public amenities (e.g. daycares, indoor activity areas, washroom facilities). Other types of public spaces including trails and green corridors (for walking, cycling or other forms of active transportation) are also important to consider, to make it safer, easier and more convenient for people to move and get around their neighbourhood.

The Phase 2 detailed draft plan directions indicate specific areas where these new or expanded urban park, trail or green corridor spaces may be located. We welcome your feedback and comments on whether these ideas should be supported as part of the new Royal Oak Plan.

Where possible, the acquisition of land for future new or expanded park spaces, trails and green corridors will be achieved through negotiation with developers/property owners during the site-specific development application stage. However, some portions of future potential new park space or park expansions, especially larger ones such as the proposed expansion of Kisbey Park, may require a future land acquisition strategy in which the City will need to separately purchase and acquire existing residential private properties to achieve the park space expansion goals outlined in the community plan.

In all cases where properties are designated for proposed urban park, trails and green corridors, there is no obligation for an owner to sell their property to the City. The owner’s existing land-use rights and current zoning designation for the property would not change upon adoption of the community plan. Should an owner wish to sell their property in the future, the City would inquire about potentially making a fair market value offer to purchase the property, based on highest and best land use, to make sure that the homeowner is fairly compensated at the time of the sale and that the community is able to obtain necessary public lands. An owner is under no obligation to sell to the City and may sell to another interested party although there may be other advantages for owners to sell to the City, such as timeline flexibility and realtor fee savings.

We’re undertaking community planning processes for the Edmonds, Royal Oak and Cascade Heights neighbourhoods at the same time. Community plans establish specific strategies for future land use, housing and other topics in individual neighbourhoods and communities based on their unique needs and context.

We’re also working on an update for Burnaby’s Official Community Plan (OCP). Compared with individual community plans, the OCP is wider in scope and establishes a long-term vision and growth management strategies for the entire city that takes into account Burnaby’s role in the wider Metro Vancouver region.

While it is anticipated that the Royal Oak community planning process will be completed before the OCP is updated, staff will work closely together and with the community to ensure that the goals and directions for the community plan and the OCP update are closely aligned.

Throughout the community planning process, we will work with Council and the community to ensure that the new Plan is directly aligned with the City’s recently-adopted or updated policies, priorities and strategies, as well as ongoing initiatives, including:

If you have general questions about the community planning process, please email us at royaloakplan@burnaby.ca or call 604-294-7829. You can also sign up to stay informed about project related news by clicking on the "Follow" button at the top of this page.