Port Coquitlam embarks on OCP refresh

On Tuesday, Port Coquitlam council took the first steps toward drafting a new official community plan meant to guide growth and livability in the city over the next 20 years.

In accordance with provincial regulations, Port Coquitlam council updated the city’s official community plan last December. The city has been well-served by that plan, said Mayor Brad West.

“There’s always time for a revision and to chart a new future for the community,” he said Tuesday.

Besides the challenge of adding about 15,000 more units of housing and 10,000 new jobs over the next few decades, the city is also adjusting to new provincial housing legislation, explained Port Coquitlam’s community planning manager Carly Rimell.

The city is growing in unexpected places, Rimell told council.

“We have also seen impacts, unfortunately, on townhouse development,” she said. Rimmel described townhouses as a “critical piece of missing middle housing.”

With provincial legislation allowing four to six units of housing on parcels formerly earmarked for single-family houses, council recently voted to rezone 31 properties in the 2200-blocks of Manning and Fraser Avenues as well as 3067 and 3075 Shaughnessy St.

Formerly zoned for single-family houses, the lots are now zoned for apartments.

Part of the aim of the new OCP will be to link growth to strategic investments and infrastructure, Rimell said.

Following a series of meetings with council, city staff are set to start drafting the plan this summer, with council potentially adopting the OCP in late 2027.

Getting the public involved was a concern for Coun. Darrell Penner.

“The areas that are truly going to have a real change . . . they should get a direct mailout or directly contacted – those areas, not the whole community,” he said.

There will be elements of the OCP the public can’t influence, Rimell said.

“Community engagement should complement the OCP project and not drive the process,” she said. “We know that engagement does not equal more consensus.”

Following multiple sessions with council, council is set to begin drafting the new OCP later this year, potentially seeking public comment in 2027.

The city’s current focus is to protect old rental stock from development while adding approximately 350 new market rental units per year for the next five years.

Slightly more than half of single mothers in Port Coquitlam are considered in core housing need – defined as spending more than 30 percent of your income on shelter or living in a home that’s cramped or in need of repairs.

Many seniors struggle to afford rent, as 76 percent of renters 85 and older are in core housing need, necessitating more downsizing options and supportive housing, according to a city staff report.
Overall, 27.5 percent of the city’s renters are in core housing need.