Public Hearings on OCP Changes Weren’t Eliminated — Here’s What Actually Changed

For residents following local development, an important distinction is often overlooked: public hearings for amendments to an Official Community Plan (OCP) have not been broadly eliminated.

Under section 464 of British Columbia’s Local Government Act, a local government generally must hold a public hearing before adopting an OCP bylaw. That requirement also applies when an OCP is amended.

What Bill 44 actually changed

The Province’s Bill 44 restricted public hearings for certain zoning bylaws, not for OCP amendments generally.

Under section 464(3), a local government must not hold a public hearing when a proposed zoning bylaw:

• is consistent with the OCP already in effect;
• has the sole purpose of permitting a development that is, in whole or in part, residential; and
• applies to a development in which residential uses account for at least half of the proposed gross floor area.

Under section 464(4), public hearings are also prohibited for zoning bylaws whose sole purpose is compliance with the Province’s small-scale multi-unit housing requirements.

A municipality may still conduct other forms of public consultation. That consultation is not the same as a statutory public hearing.

Key questions for any proposal

1. Does it require an amendment to Delta’s OCP?
2. Does it require only a zoning amendment that is already consistent with the OCP?
3. What bylaws are actually before Council, and what legal provision is being relied upon to hold — or not hold — a hearing?

If a proposal requires an OCP amendment, the public-hearing requirement should be checked against the bylaw numbers actually before Council. Residents should identify the property address, application or file number, proposed bylaw numbers, and relevant Council dates before drawing conclusions.

Broad statements that “public hearings have been eliminated” are incomplete. The Province restricted hearings for specified OCP-consistent zoning bylaws. It did not broadly remove the statutory public-hearing process for OCP bylaws.

Sources

• Local Government Act, sections 464 and 467
• City of Delta — Public Hearings
• City of Delta — Housing Our Future

Related: What Bill 44 Does — and What It Does Not · What Bill 25 Does

This article provides general public information and is not legal advice. The applicable bylaws, staff reports, and current legislation should be reviewed for each proposal.