FAQs

The Village is committed to reconciliation and to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Líl̓wat Nation. This project is a great opportunity for us to work with Líl̓wat Nation to understand how our housing initiatives can support their citizens’ needs. Our Complete Communities Project is a collaborative project with Líl̓wat Nation to assess Líl̓wat territory along with the Village’s land to determine gaps in housing, infrastructure, transportation and daily needs, and how to address those gaps that meet both the Village’s residents and Líl̓wat citizens’ needs.

There are several areas where the Village must immediately enact changes in zoning and procedures for development approvals, plus a series of policy change to come over the next few years.

• Pemberton must adopt zoning amendments to allow a secondary suite or an accessory dwelling unit (like a carriage home) on all properties in its single-family neighbourhoods.
• Public hearings are now prohibited when a proposed zoning amendment is consistent with the official community plan.
• Pemberton’s Housing Needs Report must be updated to include a 20-year housing needs target, based on a format to be provided by the province.
• The Official Community Plan must be updated to establish a housing target based on the 20-year projection in the needs report, and the zoning bylaw updated to proactively permit enough housing units to achieve the target in the OCP.
• The housing needs report, housing target in the OCP, and the zoning bylaw then must be updated every five years thereafter.

The housing strategy will address our community’s goals and objectives as expressed in our OCP and Housing Action Plan. It will establish a set of priorities that address the core housing needs of the community and clear strategies and actions that to achieve those priorities. The strategy will provide a roadmap of priorities that may include those that will help streamline development processes, encourage development to deliver prioritized housing needs, provide incentives to deliver affordable housing, and guide decision-making to ensure land uses match the core housing needs.

Pre-zoning is a proactive planning practice by which a local government identifies lands that are suitable for development and updates the zoning bylaw to allow for the best use for the site and location. This is contrary to what has been the typical process where a property owner applies to have a property rezoned to match their development plans. Pre-zoning is a major part of the legislative changes in BC that will have municipalities pre-zoning lands to meet with the housing needs targets to be set in the OCP every five (5) years. The idea is that pre-zoning should reduce the time required for the development application process and removes uncertainty of what type of development is desired and allowed on a lot or in an area.

To meet our housing targets, we need to add higher density housing in the Downtown and Gateway areas of our community. Residents have told us that they support multi-family, higher density housing in those areas, especially if there was more affordable and rental housing. Current zoning allows up to three storeys in the downtown area; we are currently exploring four to six storey dwellings, and potentially higher than six storeys in key locations.

Yes! Please keep checking back here on Have Your Say Pemberton as well as the Village website and Facebook pages for announcements of engagement opportunities.

The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) program includes funding for the Village to complete a series of studies and infrastructure planning projects that will address this concern. With HAF funds, the Village is developing new modelling of water and sanitary systems, assessments of sanitary lift stations and the wastewater treatment plant, and developing plans to find the best locations for a new water supply. The results will allow the Village to prioritize investments to upgrade and replace existing infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for services.

Parking is a significant issue that influences land uses on a property and transportation choices of the residents. In most cases there must be a balance between how much parking is required for a new development and when less parking should be considered in favour of more housing units and when it will result in more affordable housing. A goal of the Community Climate Action Plan is to encourage more active transportation and public transit by locating more housing closer to downtown and active transportation routes. This project will aim to provide direction that balances options, which will hopefully reduce vehicles needed per household and therefore reduce requirements for parking.

The Village is committed to plan and manage growth that creates a community where residents thrive and that supports the diversity of housing to meets with housing needs. This includes exploring different housing forms and tenures, including rental housing, smaller units, different housing types, and reduced parking, which can potentially reduce costs of housing. Housing affordability means different things to different households with a range of different incomes.  Therefore, it is important to address overall housing supply across all housing types to ensure there are homes for everyone. Additional tools to reduce costs and promote more affordable housing options will be considered with recommendations to encourage the development of more affordable housing types.