POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE
Date: May 16, 1995
Dept. File No. AMcA
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Associate Director of Planning - City Plans
SUBJECT: Provincial Growth Strategies Act
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT the Mayor, on behalf of Council, communicate the
City's support for Bill 11, the Growth Strategies Act,
to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
B. THAT the City communicate concern about the following
issues and request the Minister, through administration
of the Act, seek to ensure:
- adequate time for municipalities to review and
respond to significant regional plan initiatives;
and
- that the provincial government and its agencies
act in accordance with an agreed regional growth
strategy when making investment decisions or
taking actions which affect regional livability.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS
approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council is on record, April 12, 1994, as supporting the
establishment of legislation to give the GVRD the mandate to
adopt a regional strategic plan, provided there is:
- sufficient notification time for the City to provide a
response to a proposed regional plan;
- a dispute resolution process to resolve cross-jurisdictional
issues; and
- regional support for maintaining services in municipalities
taking more than an expected share of growth.
SUMMARY
The provincial government has given third and final reading to a
Growth Strategies Act. The new legislation will be incorporated
into the Municipal Act, with consequential amendments to the
Vancouver Charter. The Act gives regional districts the
authority to adopt growth strategies, including 20-year
population and employment targets. Municipalities are required
to "sign off" on the growth strategy. A dispute resolution
process is provided for if agreement is not otherwise
forthcoming.
The new legislation provides a means to obtain agreement to the
Livable Region Strategic Plan. Whether this is an issue of
concern to the City will depend upon:
- congruence between regional and city policy directions; and
- "fairness" of the dispute resolution process.
On the first point, CityPlan and the Livable Region Strategic
Plan generally proceed in similar directions. Differences arise
over the Region's focus on targets for ground-oriented housing.
Provided this can be resolved, the new Act should not be an issue
of concern to the City.
The other question to be considered is how the dispute resolution
process will proceed and what priority City concerns will have
relative to GVRD proposals. Since City Councillors also sit on
the GVRD Board, one would hope that City concerns will be
considered when regional plans are adopted. If so, it would
seldom be necessary to proceed to formal dispute resolution.
The overall success of the Livable Region Strategic Plan will
partly depend on investment decisions, such as roads and transit,
made by senior governments. This report notes that the process
proposed in Bill 11, to reach agreement between regional and
municipal interests, is only part of the task. For plans to be
successful, all governments and their agencies need to work in
concert.
PURPOSE
This report advises Council of new provincial legislation to
create a Growth Strategies Act and consequential amendments to
the Vancouver Charter.
BACKGROUND
During the past five years the GVRD has been developing the
Livable Region Strategic Plan. A question raised through this
process was how the plan would be implemented. Various ways to
reach agreement between the GVRD and member municipalities were
discussed.
Concurrently, the provincial government has been undertaking a
consultation process to develop a Growth Strategies Act. On May
10, 1995, the provincial government gave third and final reading
to legislation to support growth management. This report
describes Bill 11 and its implications for Vancouver.
PROVINCIAL GROWTH STRATEGIES ACT
The purpose of the Act is to "promote human settlement that is
socially, economically, and environmentally healthy and that
makes efficient use of public facilities and services, land and
other resources."
The Growth Strategies Act amends the Municipal Act, adding Part
28.1, "Regional Growth Strategies" with consequential amendments
to the Vancouver Charter. Examples of topics to be included in a
regional growth strategy are noted in Appendix A. They include
the sorts of issues the GVRD has been addressing through the
Livable Region program.
Bill 11, Growth Strategies Act, provides:
- regional districts with the authority to adopt regional
growth strategies;
- the Provincial Cabinet with the authority to require growth
strategies where needed and local co-operation is not
forthcoming;
- goals for municipal and regional district planning leading
to 20-year population and employment projections, and
associated servicing agreements;
- provisions for "sign-off" on regional growth strategies by
member municipalities, including time lines and dispute
resolution processes to reach agreement; and
- opportunities for partnership agreements with the key
provincial ministries and agencies (noting that the actions
of local and regional governments cannot bind a senior
government).
A summary of the Growth Strategies Act is attached as Appendix B.
Several sections of the Act affect the City.
a) Regional Plan Preparation and Agreement
The Growth Strategies Act provides a legislative basis for the
Livable Region Strategic Plan. Before a regional plan can be
adopted, it must be accepted by affected local governments.
Failing voluntary acceptance, the Act provides dispute resolution
processes to find agreement.
If agreement cannot be reached between the GVRD and a member
municipality, issues are to be settled by:
- peer panel;
- final arbitration by a single arbitrator; or
- full arbitration.
The Act provides 120 days between the receipt of a proposed
regional growth strategy and a response by the City. Some
provisions are then made for a facilitated resolution process.
The City has, on previous occasions, noted that 120 days may not
be adequate time to respond to a plan which requires significant
changes to adopted land use policies or funding decisions. The
Act makes provisions for an extended time (no dates given) at the
discretion of an appointed facilitator. A mutually agreeable
extension may resolve the 120-day deadline.
The Act provides that, once a regional growth strategy is
adopted, all actions by the Regional District must be consistent
with the Act.
b) Changes to the City Charter
Bill 11 amends the Municipal Act and the Vancouver Charter to
require municipalities and the City to comply with the Growth
Strategies Act and to include a "regional context statement" in
official community plans.
The Charter amendments are attached as Appendix C. In summary
they:
1. Amend section 2.1(1) of the Vancouver Charter to include the
Regional Growth Strategies Act (Part 28.1).
This requires that the City either adopt the regional growth
strategy or, failing acceptance, be bound by the strategy as
the result of a dispute resolution process.
2. Amend section 561-Development Plans and Section 562-Official
Development Plans.
These changes allow, but do not require, that Development
and Official Development Plans include a regional context
statement.
DISCUSSION
The Regional Growth Strategies Act provides a legislative basis
for the Livable Region Strategy. It offers a process whereby the
GVRD and member municipalities can agree on a Regional Strategic
Plan.
a) Implications to the City
The Act requires the City to reach agreement with the GVRD on
such issues as 20-year population and employment projections.
Assuming Council adopts CityPlan and the GVRD proposes targets
similar to those identified in the August 1993, draft Livable
Region Strategy, then the City and Region are moving on a similar
path and agreements should be achievable following some
negotiations.
Problems could arise if the Regional Plan has significant
financial or land use implications to the City. For example, if
the Plan "insisted" on the City taking a large share of ground-
oriented housing, the consequences of this would be significant
redevelopment of single-family areas. This direction was
rejected through the CityPlan process.
Council should note that the dispute resolution process
potentially removes from Council's jurisdiction some policy
decisions. As noted in the above example, the dispute resolution
process could rule that the City adopt a target to provide more
housing or jobs than the City chooses.
In supporting the Provincial Growth Strategies Act, Council would
have to take on faith that a facilitated conflict resolution
process would be fair-minded and give due consideration to the
City's concerns.
The Act requires that the City and Region come to agreement on a
Strategic Plan. The procedure for the City incorporating a
"regional context statement" into our plans is less clear.
Vancouver's situation is different from other municipalities in
that we operate under the Charter. Bill 11 is designed as an
amendment to the Municipal Act, with consequential amendments to
the Vancouver Charter.The Municipal Act provides the opportunity
for local governments to adopt "Official Community Plans." An
OCP is a general statement of the broad objectives and policies
of a municipality. The new legislation states that OCPs must
include a regional context statement.
By comparison, the Vancouver Charter does not include provision
for an "official community plan." Instead, Bill 11 provisions
are to be included in sections of the Charter that deal with
"Development Plans" and "Official Development Plans." However,
as noted in Appendix C, the Charter amendments do not require the
City to include a regional context statement in our plans.
The City's past use of the "Official Development Plan" provision
has been for plans applicable to relatively small portions of the
city, such as those prepared for "mega projects." These sites are
not of a scale implied in municipal "Official Community Plans."
As such, attaching "Regional Context Statements" to Official
Development Plans is likely to be of limited utility. Council is
advised that, as a matter of general procedure, staff will not be
incorporating "Regional Context Statements" in Development and
Official Development Plans.
The more appropriate place to include a "Regional Context
Statement" is in CityPlan. CityPlan already includes a section
on the region. At such time as the GVRD and the City agree on a
regional plan and conclude partnership agreements on regional
strategic policies, these agreements can be incorporated into
CityPlan.
The Act stipulates that a City "Regional Context Statement" be
prepared within two years of agreement of a Regional Strategic
Plan. The statement will be subject to acceptance by the GVRD
Board. The City's statement, once agreed, would need to be
reviewed every five years. This work could be undertaken as part
of implementing CityPlan.
Sections of the new Act, such as a dispute resolution process,
will need to be developed in more detail before the full
consequences to the City can be determined. Nevertheless, given
that CityPlan supports many of the notions implied in the GVRD
Livable Region Plan, staff can see no reason to suggest Council
not support Bill 11. The cautions are about:
the short time (120 days) for the City to respond to a
regional plan. Hopefully the provincial facilitator process
will provide adequate response times; and
any erosion of Council's authority to direct the City's
policies.
b) Implications to the GVRD
The Livable Regional Strategic Plan proposed "a consensus/
partnership process" to achieve the "Creating Our Future" vision.
The Act provides the legislative basis for the GVRD to seek
adoption of the Livable Region Strategic Plan and agreement on
implementation.
c) Implications to Senior Governments
Senior governments and their agencies can play a significant role
in implementing regional strategies. They can also undermine the
strategy through inappropriate investments. Transit is one of
many responsibilities vested with senior governments.
Junior governments cannot bind senior governments. Hence,
implementation in accordance with a regional plan rests on the
good will of the provincial and federal governments and their
agencies.
The only reference in the Act to senior government initiatives is
in Section 942.3 where provision is made that the provincial
government may enter into agreements with respect to the regional
growth strategy.
The City should request the Minister to make every effort,
through legislation and subsequent actions, to ensure the
provincial government and its agencies act in accordance with an
agreed regional growth strategy.
CONCLUSION
On the positive side, Bill 11 provides a means for the GVRD and
its member municipalities to find agreement on a strategic plan
to guide the Region's livability. Problems will arise if the
directions the City and Region wish to pursue are fundamentally
different. The same will hold true for other member
municipalities.
At this time, the Livable Region Strategic Plan and CityPlan
share many common directions. Any differences with respect to
employment and housing targets will need to be addressed through
the process outlined in the Act.
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