Help us plan the future of Kitimat!

We're starting a Complete Communities assessment. We are excited to receive your feedback and ideas that will help make Kitimat a more complete community in the years ahead.

There are a few things that has brought us to launching this project:

• The District of Kitimat received a grant from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to undertake a Complete Communities Study. This project involves mapping and analyzing Kitimat’s built form through the four lenses of housing, daily needs, transportation, and infrastructure. The project will identify Kitimat’s strengths and challenges and prepare recommendations for Council's consideration.
• New provincial housing legislation requires municipalities to investigate housing needs in their communities and plan for new housing to meet those needs. This must be done through mandatory preparation of Housing Needs Reports, updates/amendments to Official Community Plans, and changes to zoning.
• As the District of Kitimat looks ahead to meeting the new legislative requirements, findings from the Complete Community Study will help identify what we need today and what we'll need down the line.

As this project, in large part, is about the future of Kitimat's housing lets look at what we know.

The District of Kitimat has recently completed an Interim Housing Needs Report. Council received this report on December 16, 2024 in advance of the province's January 1, 2025 deadline. The creation of this report, and Council's receipt of the report in an open meeting, were requirements under the provincial Local Government Act.

Here is some of the report's findings:

One thing to keep in mind with these housing demand estimates is that it's not just about building houses.

The report looks at things like the existing demand of housing, the availability and mix of housing types, forecasted changes to Kitimat's housing stock, and shifts in home ownership and rental balances of the community.

With information about forecasted housing demands, our next step is this Complete Communities and OCP Housing Update.

We are pulling in all the data we have to gauge how complete Kitimat already is, and how we can look at developing the community moving ahead.

We're looking for your input on things such as:

• Are residents living close enough to the services they need?
• Do Kitimat's neighbourhoods have a good balance of services?
• What is the ability of residents to move around, whether its roads, sidewalks, or transit?

Your input through our community engagement will help guide changes to the Official Community Plan which in turn will allow changes in local zoning to match the community's vision with local needs.

Now it's time to provide your feedback. Follow the link below to provide your input to help make Kitimat a complete community.