Port Moody Issues Report Summarizing Approach to Provincial Housing Initiatives

The City of Port Moody has released a staff report discussing the Province’s recent legislation and housing initiatives. Included in the report is an outline of the City’s proposed approach to the Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs), as well as proposed timing to create ACC’s, update DCC’s and update the OCP.

In Port Moody, the two TOAs that took effect immediately are:
– Inlet Centre Station
– Moody Centre Station

A map has now been generated by the City of Port Moody to show any parcel of land that is deemed to be within the catchment area of the TOA.

The above map can be viewed here.

The report notes that “the Province expects local governments to transition to new planning tools, such as the ACC Bylaw, by mid-2025. As such, staff will need to revisit and revise for Council’s consideration the policy to allow collection of density bonus funds above the new TOA FAR limits, while maintaining the 2.5 FAR threshold for the rest of the City in 2025.”

The report also references the City’s existing inclusionary zoning policy in the TOAs:

“Similarly, the new minimum densities in the TOAs will likely render the City’s Inclusionary Zoning –Affordable Housing Units Policy financially unfeasible. For cities that utilize a density bonus to achieve affordable units, they will no longer be able to do so, except on densities greater than the 3, 4, or 5 FARs allocated through the MD Framework within the TOAs. Port Moody’s Inclusionary Zoning Policy relies upon both the increased land value associated with a higher density and the density bonus itself. As the density bonus will begin at higher FARs within the TOAs, it is likely that inclusionary units will no longer be financially feasible for nearly all projects.

However, as part of the recent webinars, the Province has mentioned that future legislation will include the development of an inclusionary zoning program. The timeline for this legislation is likely Spring 2024 as referenced above.”

The report outlines the following proposed timeline for implementation of the new zoning bylaws to reflect the TOA policy:

Regarding DCC’s and ACC’s the City expects to develop bylaws for both beginning in late 2024, with an expectation to have bylaws adopted for both in late 2025.

Here is the proposed timeline for implementation of ACC’s:

Port Moody was in advanced stages of updating their OCP prior to the Province’s housing legislation. The OCP update has now been paused until next year as a result of the new TOA policy.

Multiple municipalities have now referenced forthcoming legislation from the Province regarding inclusionary zoning, expected in “Spring 2024”.

A full version of the Council report can be viewed here: https://pub-portmoody.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=22270