City starts engagement on land-use framework for 2050

Starting this week, the City of Burnaby is hosting several public engagement events for its land-use framework, part of its official community planning (OCP) process for 2050. Burnaby residents can register to attend one of seven in-person open houses from Sept.12-28 at various locations throughout Burnaby. 

The city is also hosting a virtual open house on Sept. 24, and residents can register online. On the city’s “Your Voice” public engagement platform, Burnaby’s residents can make comments directly on an interactive map of the city regarding land use in different parts of the city. The various uses are colour-coded on the map and are explained below the map. The map is also downloadable. 

Residents can also share their views on the land-use framework by filling in an online survey on the platform. 

The land-use framework is part of Burnaby’s OCP for the next 25 years and involves deciding how to allocate land to different functions and uses. Land uses outlined in the framework include commercial use, schools, recreational facilities, and apartment buildings of various heights. City staff drafted a map showing the different land uses in the proposed framework. 

According to a report submitted to the city’s Planning and Development Committee, “​​The purpose of the OCP Land Use Framework is to map the intended long-term land uses for each parcel of land in the City. This sets the vision for how the city will grow, allowing for infrastructure, utility, and transit planning to align with planned development, ensuring that services are planned in coordination with land use. It also allows residents, landowners, and city staff to have a shared understanding of Burnaby’s future, and the neighbourhoods within it.”

City planners Jessica Devlin-Cross, Mark Norton, and Hay Go presented the map and engagement plan to the Planning and Development Committee on July 10.  

“It’s been a lot of work so far in creating the land-use framework map. There have been several key steps in which the work was created, starting in the summer of last year, with internal staff workshops drafting a kind of outline of a map to develop. This continued with internal stakeholder engagement review, which resulted in the creation of a detailed draft land use map that we’re presenting today,” Devlin-Cross said. 

According to the city’s public engagement platform, the land-use framework and map were developed based on community feedback during the Burnaby 2050 public engagement sessions. 

The city developed 10 policy objectives based on Burnaby 2050 OCP public engagement results and used them in developing the map. The 10 objectives include climate action, diverse housing forms, access to parks, transit, and amenities, and advancing reconciliation.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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