The City of Delta’s planning department recently provided council another picture of projected building growth in several categories over the next decade.
In a recent report on the city’s proposed development cost charge (DCC) program, the development department calculated residential and non-residential new development projections across eight DCC land use categories.
The new development projections are based on Delta’s provincially-mandated five-year housing growth targets and the city’s current and 10-year projected development statistics, as well as Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy, which includes housing demand estimates, as well as the Official Community Plan (OCP) and Census data.
The projections reflect the current density permitted in the OCP.
The city’s projections for new developments have an additional 1,802 low-density residential units from 2023 to 2033.
Over that same time, 2,162 new townhouse units, 3,968 apartment units and 200 congregate care units are projected.
Also projected is an additional 31,400-square-metres of gross commercial floor area, 520,000-square-metres of gross industrial floor area, 20,740-square-metres of gross institutional floor area as well as 120,000-square-metres of greenhouse agricultural space.
The housing figures could end up even higher as the planning department is looking into an expedited city-wide OCP review and update process.
The update would significantly streamline the number of current designations and the overall planning framework, which currently varies by community, according to another previous report, adding that staff have begun reviewing the residential land use designations and identifying necessary updates.
Staff will bring forward a more detailed work plan for consideration that will be subject to council’s approval. The scope of the work will include establishing a communications and public engagement strategy for the OCP update, the report notes.
The Ministry of Housing this year announced that Delta would be one of the first 10 municipalities to receive a set of housing targets and in September the government issued a formal Housing Target Order.
The province has estimated that Delta’s total housing need is 4,809 net new units over the next five years. The housing target set for Delta by the province is 3,607 units, representing the number of net new units needed to meet 75 percent of estimated need.
In addition to the overall target, the province has provided guidelines for unit sizes and tenures, a breakdown that is not mandated but reflective of the province’s estimation of the types and tenures of housing that Delta should consider achieving.
According to the planning department, to support new units that better reflect the province’s guideline on unit types, additional focus would be needed on market rental units, below-market rental units, including below-market units with on-site supports, as well as units with three-or-more bedrooms.
