The City of Delta is two weeks into public consultation to help create a draft of its updated Official Community Plan.
Open houses in both South and North Delta have been well attended. Engagement has been good. Lots of questions are popping up on social media regarding the OCP including the timeline, which many feel is rushed, issues around density and size of possible developments and does Delta have the needed infrastructure in place to accommodate this growth.
Delta must build 3,607 new units of housing in the next five years or its approval powers could be taken away by the provincial government. This fact has been well documented.
The provincial government has also put in place strict measures for cities to update their OCPs and housing plans – another fact that is well documented.
We all know we are in a housing crisis and government is demanding that cities create housing options, but I continue to ask where is the financial help to improve their infrastructure to support that housing?
The province has not approved a possible second exit out of Ladner, nor have the feds agreed to pay for it, for the new Fraser River tunnel – a project that should have been open by now.
Delta, on Monday, approved the replacement of the Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre – a project that will take three years and cost between $120 and $130 million. Will there be financial support for that project from the province? The jury is still out on that question.
What about transit improvements, more improvements to Delta Hospital … the list goes on and on. Where is the province on all these issues?
The feds play a huge role in this too, for example through immigration policy, and they are not helping either.
Last week, Delta was one of several cities denied millions of dollars from the Housing Accelerator Fund – a $4-billion initiative that will assist cities in planning, zoning updates, technology and streamlining the permit process – all things that both governments have ordered cities like Delta to do to help with the housing crisis. Yet the province and the feds won’t pony up.
While senior governments make lofty policies, cites and their taxpayers, have to pay the costs.
