Ria Renouf

The meeting provided updates on the city's transition to performance-based building codes. Key discussion topics included green building technologies, high-performance home construction practices, and detailed technical overviews of the British Columbia Energy Step Code and Carbon Step Code, including specific metrics such as thermal energy demand intensity and mechanical energy use intensity.

This Ten-Year Supportive Housing and Wrap-Around Services Plan (2025-2035) outlines actions and timing priorities for the provision of shelter beds and supportive housing units. It aims to address the needs of the city's locally unhoused population, particularly Indigenous people, adults, and seniors, many of whom have complex care needs. Key priorities include the construction of permanent 24/7 shelter beds and supportive housing units, with specific targets for 2025-2030 and 2030-2035, and an emphasis on purpose-designed, trauma-informed, and culturally-safe housing options.

The Burrard Peninsula Area Transport Plan (BP ATP) outlines TransLink's multi-modal strategy to enhance transportation across the cities of Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, and parts of Electoral Area A, aligning with the broader 30-year Transport 2050 regional vision for Metro Vancouver. The plan focuses on three key areas: bus service, active transportation (walking, rolling, and cycling), and goods movement. For bus service, priorities include connecting local routes to future major transit services and growing areas, building a network with fast and direct connections, and ensuring the system is easy to use, comfortable, reliable, accessible, and safe through actions like increased frequency, extended hours, and transit priority measures. In active transportation, the plan aims to make walking and rolling safer and more accessible, especially near major transit, and to advance a more complete regional cycling network. For goods movement, key objectives are improving safety and reliability, and reducing emissions. The overarching goal is to create convenient, affordable, equitable, and welcoming transportation choices for all within the Burrard Peninsula.

This OCP Amendment Bylaw for the Corporation of the City of New Westminster, adopted in 2026, integrates Provincial Housing Legislation into the existing Official Community Plan (Bylaw No. 7925, 2017). The amended plan outlines strategies to manage anticipated population growth and address diverse housing needs, with projections extending from 2025 to 2050. Key strategic priorities include revising land use designations, updating housing policies to facilitate various housing types (e.g., affordable, market rental, supportive, family-friendly), and promoting transit-oriented, mixed-use developments to create livable and socially cohesive neighborhoods. The plan also incorporates updates to environmental regulations and other elements of the Official Community Plan.

The meeting involved discussions on several key items. The Community Advisory Assembly presented recommendations for the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan, focusing on climate hazards like extreme heat and heavy rain, including proposals for building retrofits, cooling infrastructure, and social supports. Council also received an update on the proposed framework and solutions for the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan, advocating for stable provincial funding. Additionally, an update on the first phase of the Economic Development Plan was reviewed, covering employment trends, sectoral opportunities in healthcare and creative industries, and strategies for industrial land management.