Vancouver seeks new policies requiring infrastructure upgrades from developers | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver seeks new policies requiring infrastructure upgrades from developers

Bike lane next to new low-rise residential buildings on King Edward Avenue near Cambie Street in Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Staff of the City of Vancouver are proposing new rules that would give it the authority to require developers to help pay for municipal infrastructure — like sewers, sidewalks, parks, and utility upgrades — as a condition for receiving a development permit.

This move comes in response to new provincial legislation passed in 2024, known as Bill 16, which gave municipal governments more power to speed up housing development, while also managing the costs and impacts of growth, including the new authority to require site-specific infrastructure and public benefits.

Vancouver City Council is now set to send the proposed bylaw changes to a public hearing for further consideration.

Under the current system, many major developer obligations — such as providing land for public use or contributing to local infrastructure — are negotiated during rezonings, which are often lengthy, spanning up to years, and uncertain. With these new powers, the City could set those conditions at the later development permit stage, including in areas already pre-zoned for new housing.

According to Josh White, the City of Vancouver’s general manager of planning, urban design and sustainability and director of planning, these changes will enable a new system where developments can skip the rezoning process, which will significantly lower the overall review and approval time. But there are instances where the provision of infrastructure needs to be a condition of development, moving this condition from rezoning to the development permit.

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City staff state this will help streamline the process, reduce delays, and make expectations more predictable — especially in areas like the Broadway Plan, Oakridge Municipal Town Centre within the Cambie Corridor Plan, the future Rupert and Renfrew Station Area Plan, and other locations undergoing community planning.

“This change gives us stronger tools to ensure new development doesn’t strain existing infrastructure — while avoiding some of the red tape of full rezonings,” the City staff report notes.

The proposed changes would allow the City to require a wide range of infrastructure and public amenities as part of new developments, including sewer and drainage upgrades, water and fire-fighting system improvements, on-site waste management facilities, new sidewalks, bike lanes, transit stops, and traffic calming features, road upgrades and flood protections, and public realm enhancements such as street trees, seating, and lighting.

These requirements would only apply when deemed necessary to address the direct impacts of a specific project and must be provided at no cost to the City.

The new authority to implement such requirements will be implemented gradually. Initially, it will apply only in select areas where infrastructure upgrades are urgently needed. City staff say this phased rollout is intended to monitor impacts on project timelines and development costs, and make adjustments as necessary.

“Given the potential implications and risks associated with the application of this new authority as part of development permits, it is recommended that the authorities herein not be used until an implementation strategy is in place. This would commence only in areas having acute servicing needs,” reads a City staff report.

“Thereafter, implementation of this authority can be expanded incrementally to other areas to address emerging needs. This measured approach allows staff to adjust and calibrate requirements by gathering information about the effectiveness of the tools, costs, impacts on permit timing, and risks, errors, and omissions, if any.”

Projects in pre-zoned areas may benefit the most, as they could skip the rezoning process entirely and move straight to the development permit phase — though still subject to the new infrastructure conditions.

However, there are concerns that for projects in areas not pre-zoned, the added conditions could complicate and slow down the permitting process. City staff are working on an implementation strategy to avoid bottlenecks and maintain the goals of the City’s “3-3-3-1” permitting framework, which aims for predictable permit approvals within a set timeframe.

Next week, the proposed bylaw changes are expected to be referred to a public hearing held this summer. If the policies are approved, they will form a key part of the City’s broader strategy to enable more housing while ensuring neighbourhoods are equipped with the infrastructure needed to support growth, which is a key concern among critics and opponents of the municipal and provincial government’s densification policies.

A wider review of the City’s development contribution system — including Development Cost Levies and Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) — is also underway and expected to wrap up in 2026.

Furthermore, City staff are also recommending the creation of the new Development Approval Procedure (DAP) bylaw, which expands the threshold for a mandatory pre-application enquiry process for rezoning proposals, and changes the processes for public hearings, including banning public hearings for rezoning applications that are consistent with the Official Development Plan and are largely housing. This is also a move to align municipal policies with provincial legislation.

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