Metro Vancouver staff have made adjustments to a draft regional-growth strategy that will guide land-use policies in the region until 2040. The new document, which goes to the Metro Vancouver board on Friday (November 13), identifies two proposed municipal town centres: Lower Lynn in the District of North Vancouver and Willoughby in the Township of Langley. The document also includes a new category called “neighbourhood centres”, though the intent of the regional-growth strategy is to focus employment and population growth in urban centres.

The new draft also waters down TransLink’s role in reviewing major development proposals, saying it can only offer input on amendments to municipal regional-context statements that change the designation of industrial areas. Unlike an earlier draft distributed in February, the new draft regional-growth strategy doesn’t include frequent-transit development corridors on any maps.

This concept had generated significant concern among some municipal politicians and planners, who worried that the creation of these corridors could give TransLink a greater say in local land-use decisions.

Burnaby city staff, for instance, indicated in a report to council in March that the frequent-transit development corridors “could establish a policy direction for more intensive residential development of current City park, industrial, Business Centre, and single and two family residential areas”.

“It could also negatively impact the viability of the City’s Urban Centres model by distributing rather than focusing higher density development opportunities across the City’s land base,” the report noted.

In March, Richmond city staff stated in a report to council that they supported the concept of a frequent-transit development corridor to focus high-density development near transit. However, the staff report emphasized a need for more discussion and definition of where these corridors should be established.

“If applied literally along the routes shown for Richmond, higher density development would take place through many existing single-family neighbourhoods,” the staff report stated.

Surrey staff also expressed a concern in an April staff report that frequent-transit development corridors identified in the February draft report would “traverse stable residential neighbourhoods”. Implementation, staff suggested, should include substantial local consultation.

Metro Vancouver staff initially hoped to have a new regional-growth strategy approved before the end of this year, but now it’s not expected to be approved until next year.