Thanks to the community feedback and engagement received, we have now completed the Complete Community Study & Housing Focused OCP Update.

Click the link below to read the Complete Community Study and the associated documents and reports that helped finalize the project.

There were 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. The project involved mapping and analyzing Kitimat’s built form through the four lenses of housing, daily needs, transportation, and infrastructure, which helped identify Kitimat’s strengths and challenges.
• 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.

A large part of this project was about the future of Kitimat's housing.

Below is what we found out about Kitimat's housing demands prior to the project that help inform the OCP Housing Update. But one thing to keep in mind with the housing demand estimates is that they are not just about building new houses. The report looked 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.

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:

The project helped identify that Kitimat has sufficient residential capacity within the existing land use framework (i.e. OCP and zoning) to address the housing need, given the number of undeveloped and underutilized sites across the community. Despite this, amendments were still needed to the OCP and the updates included:

• Adding a new section in the OCP that contains background context and policy statements relevant to Bill 44
• Updates to the Future Land Use Designation section in the OCP, including:
  • Establishing a new “Multi-Unit Residential” designation to formalize the existing properties in Kitimat that already have multi-family zoning allowing five or more units on one lot. This designation is intended for townhouses, rowhouses, apartment buildings, temporary worker accommodation facilities, and mobile/manufactured home parks.
  • Amending the existing “Neighbourhood” designation to specify that it is intended for properties with single- and semi- detached dwellings with and without secondary suites, mobile/manufactured homes, multiplexes, and accessory dwelling units, to a maximum of four units on one parcel.
  • Establishing a new “Mixed Use” designation for Nechako Centre. Designating Nechako Centre for mixed use in the OCP is proposed based on the Nechako Centre Concept Plan and the findings of the Complete Community Study.
• Creating a new Future Land Use Designation Map to reflect the land use designation changes noted above, as well as create a more readable, user-friendly map overall.