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.

City Council endorsed an introductory report at the January 23, 2023 Council meeting that briefly described the Royal Oak community planning process over the coming years. A following report outlining the preliminary visioning, goals and plan directions for the Royal Oak Urban Village Community Plan, and briefly describing the phase 1 engagement process was endorsed by Council at the June 5, 2023 Council meeting. The process will involve 1-2 future phases of public engagement before a final community plan is developed and presented to Council for consideration.

View project phases

Thank you to everyone who participated in our phase 1 survey and open houses. We are now analyzing the feedback we received to inform the draft plan directions for phase 2.

While the phase 1 survey is closed, you can still provide input and comments via email at RoyalOakplan@burnaby.ca, give us a call at 604-294-7828 or mail written comments to Burnaby City Hall, 4949 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC, V5G 1M2.

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 policy directions of the community plan, they are still required to submit a site-specific development application, which often includes opportunities for further public input and Council consideration (e.g. development rezoning application) prior to the redevelopment being approved. 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, tenants are protected from displacement due to rezoning redevelopment through the City’s Tenant Assistance Policy (TAP). For more information, please see the Burnaby Tenant Assistance webpage.

We expect the new Royal Oak Urban Village Community Plan will include direction for the TAP to be applied to future redevelopments in the neighbourhood, where applicable, in order to protect existing residents during the redevelopment process.

As part of the community planning process, it is important to consider where additional open park spaces, other types of green spaces (e.g. sports fields, picnic areas) or public amenities (e.g. daycares, recreational facilities) can be accommodated as the community continues to grow in the longer-term future. In Phase 1, the preliminary Land Use Framework presents initial ideas for where these new or expanded park or public use spaces may be located. We welcome your feedback and comments on whether these potential future park or public use expansion areas are appropriate, and whether these ideas should be further explored in future phases of the community planning process.

If a property is ultimately designated for future park or public use in the new community plan, there is no obligation for a home owner to sell the property to the City, and none of the home owner’s existing rights or zoning designation for the property would change upon adoption of the Community Plan. Should a homeowner wish to sell the property in the future, the City would inquire about potentially making an offer to purchase the property at fair market value based on highest and best use. A home owner is under no obligation to sell to the City, and may sell to another interested party.

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.