Assembly urges Burnaby to 'do no harm' to future generations

Last week, the Beacon reported on participants’ experiences in the Burnaby Community Assembly process. Burnaby is one of a handful of cities actively involving residents in planning the city’s future. Through multiple layers of engagement, the city is trying to form a holistic vision for the next 25 years in Burnaby. 

While the city’s engagement processes have covered a lot of ground on issues such as housing and affordability, it also supported a parallel process through the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. 

“In 2021, Burnaby became the first known local government in Canada to commission a Community Assembly for its Official Community Plan,” the assembly’s report said. 

The Beacon reported on the assembly’s selection process and its members in a previous article.

The Burnaby Community Assembly’s 24 recommendations covered six key areas:

• The vision for the future 

• Housing 

• Growth, density, and land use part 1: Neighbourhoods, Street Experiences, and Accessibility

• Growth, density, and land use part 2: Zoning and Housing Forms

• Transportation  

• Livability 

Regarding the city’s vision for the future, the assembly recommendations focused on the impact of the city’s decisions on younger generations. 

“The Assembly strongly recommends that the City of Burnaby should adopt an intergenerational lens for decision making, requiring staff to report on potential impacts that will be felt by future generations for all major projects, plans, strategies, policies, and budget decisions,” the report said. “Major decisions and projects in Burnaby should ‘do no harm’ to future generations and should ideally have a positive impact.”

Regarding zoning, the assembly recommended a greater variety of housing options, including low-rise apartments, townhomes, row homes, and other options, and a smoother transition between high-density and low-density areas. It also strongly recommended Burnaby create a target of building 80,000 new housing units by 2050. 

In addition, it recommends that “30% of new market housing should be rental housing and that the City should meet the Assembly targets for non-market housing.” 

For the most part, the Burnaby Community Assembly’s recommendations were more high-level rather than specific recommendations. 

For example, regarding transit and pedestrian safety, recommendation 18 states, “The Burnaby Community Assembly strongly recommends that the City review existing foot traffic routes to maximize safety (Vision Zero to eliminate road deaths), and identify ‘high-traffic’ mixed-use routes for better road/sidewalk/lane separation.” 

The recommendation does not mention any research or information on the successful implementation of Vision Zero in other parts of the world. Similar to the city’s official transportation plan, Vision Zero is mentioned, but what it entails is not. 

In recommendation 23, “The Burnaby Community Assembly recommends more nightlife! Incentivize nightlife business around town centres to be able to socialize without the need to go to neighbouring municipalities.” 

Here again, there is no specific information about the type of nightlife, where it would be concentrated, or the community impacts of nightlife venues.  

In contrast, the recommendations go into greater detail regarding subjects such as preserving green spaces, community centres, childcare, and daycare options.

According to the report, all recommendations were approved by 66% or more of the assembly members. Recommendations that are mentioned as “strongly” recommended have an 80% approval rate, while unanimous recommendations received a 95% approval rate.  

Once the city forms its official community plan and examines the assembly’s recommendations, the assembly will reconvene in early 2025 to discuss the city’s feedback and the OCP. 

“After the City of Burnaby publishes a draft of its Official Community Plan, SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue has committed to reconvene representatives from the Assembly to review and provide feedback. The City of Burnaby has also promised to report back publicly on how it used the Assembly’s recommendations, including which ones it has adopted as well as any reasons it can’t or won’t pursue a recommendation,” the assembly report said.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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