Ravi Parmar, MLA for the Greater Victoria riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca, discusses new provincial housing measures and their relation to the West Shore and Greater Victoria, infrastructure projects, and other initiatives. Citified.ca
Q&A with Ravi Parmar, MLA Langford-JDF on provincial housing measures and their impacts on BC communities
Ten on the 10th
Published January 15, 2024
Citified's Ten on the 10th is a monthly question-and-answer segment connecting our readers with the insight and knowledge of Victoria's top real-estate and business professionals.
Ten on the Tenth's January, 2024 segment features Ravi Parmar, MLA for the riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca on Greater Victoria's West Shore.
Asking the questions is Ross Marshall, Senior Vice President of the Victoria offices of commercial real-estate brokerage CBRE. As a leader in facilitating large-scale commercial real-estate transactions throughout the Capital Region – which include apartment complexes, industrial retail and office properties, and land/development opportunities – Ross and his team are at the forefront of market-leading real-estate transactions on Vancouver Island.
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Our readers are likely well aware of your history with School District #62 on Victoria's West Shore, so we'll jump right in to to our questions on your current role as MLA. Public hearings on development proposals seeking variances may no longer be required, but what is the Province's response to a proponent seeking a public hearing, in order to counter political opinion that may be stalling approvals?
I know people in Langford-Juan de Fuca and across B.C. care deeply about how their communities expand and accommodate new housing. People will still be able to continue to call or write to their elected officials with their thoughts on individual projects or housing more generally, and show their priorities at the ballot box during election time.
The steps our government is taking now are limited only to a sub-set of public hearings – those for rezonings related to housing projects that are consistent with a community’s OCP; public hearings will still be required for Official Community Plan amendments. Since Official Community Plan updates for housing will now be required on a regular basis, community members and local groups will now have a regular and reoccurring opportunity to provide input to help shape their community and address its housing needs.
In fact, the changes will mean that public input on the official community planning process will become more important, and these opportunities will now occur in all municipalities on a regular basis. The current processes often lead to the situation we’ve seen in recent years, where good housing projects either get slowed, rolled back or stopped altogether. In this housing crisis we’re facing, these kind of situations are not sustainable and make it harder for housing to be created and delivered. That’s why we’re moving this new model forward, so if a housing project is consistent with the Official Community Plan, a public hearing is not required and things can get on track quicker, so more people can get the housing they need.
Planning staff have become stronger de-facto arbiters of what is deemed appropriate as far as development proposals are concerned, with councils now more motivated to seek staff input on approvals in lieu of relying on the public hearing process to help them in their decision making. Have Provincial policies inadvertently made public input obsolete in situations where it is warranted?
In our Housing for People plan and, under the new model we have brought in, people will continue to have opportunities to provide input on their neighborhood’s housing projects to city staff directly, and we have heard that being able to provide feedback for Official Community Plan processes typically provide much more fulsome opportunities for engagement and input than rezoning processes for the community.
It will be necessary for local governments to issue a notice early in the approvals process for a housing project, so people are aware and up to date – what’s great is many communities already have systems for sharing information and helping residents track projects through the process, so they’ve already done the work to make sure people can engage with municipalities and understand what’s going on in their communities.
OCPs are reviewed from time to time, and new OCPs have been ordered by the Province for communities where housing measures are being enacted by the Province. For in-stream proposals, are they to be weighed based on existing OCPs, or is the province expecting planners and councils to consider future OCP height, density and setback expectations?
The changes we enacted this past fall will require municipalities to update their Official Community Plans (OCPs) and zoning bylaws on a regular basis (every five years) for consistency with housing needs reports. Over time, this will have the effect of reducing the number of rezonings required to bring into effect land use changes that are consistent with community visions articulated through OCPs. A key part of this change is to connect how municipalities plan their community growth with an analysis of actual housing needs. So OCPs will continue to be informed by the Housing Needs Reports that account for the current supply shortages that have accumulated over the past two decades, and the housing needs five years into the future, these reports also rely on updated household projections from BC Stats that reflect recent immigration trends to B.C. and align with federal immigration targets.
Rapid growth in the West Shore has led and could lead to more challenges with school spaces, healthcare, infrastructure, and amenities. What are you doing to support services like those in light of the growth we’re seeing and that’s expected over time?
For 16 years under the BCUP, (formerly the BC Liberal Party) our region and the West Shore in particular was under invested in, and people are seeing the effects of this with strains on their services and amenities. Since forming government, we’ve been working hard to catch up, and there’s still more work to be done. As the former Board Chair of the Sooke School District, I have worked closely with the government to lead the largest expansion of public education to the Sooke school district in my lifetime.
This includes the recently announced 400-seat expansion coming to Ruth King and David Cameron elementary schools, and the opening of a new elementary and middle schools in recent years. We’ve also made huge improvements to Highway 14 which many people in the region rely on to get between work, home, school, and other amenities in our community. We’ve also made the largest investment in expanding affordable housing in the region, with nearly 1000 affordable housing units underway or completed on the West Shore. Our government also made record investments with one-time grants to every municipality in B.C. to support them as their communities grow, which means the West Shore municipalities have more funding to address their needs how they choose to based on what they are seeing. In my constituency, Langford received over $16 million, Sooke over $6 million, and the Capital Regional District over $11.5 million. I could go on but what’s more important is that there’s more to come. We’re working hard to support our region to thrive as it continues to grow.
As a government MLA in the West Shore, much of the new housing has taken place in your region. Yet, the government has not started LRT to assist with much-needed transportation for the rising population. Edmonton started LRT in 1974 with a similar population to Greater Victoria. Will you encourage your government to start LRT?
As MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, my job is to fight for investments that keep people in my region moving. As our communities grow, we need a transportation system that gets people where they need to go, whether it be work, school, recreation, or important appointments. The South Island Transportation Strategy has employed a transformative vision focused on transit, active transportation, and road safety. Ease, convenience, and safety are the three pillars they’ve built this vision on, with the ultimate goal of efficient commuting within Victoria and the West Shore.
To-date, the Province has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into seeing this strategy realized. With growth, increased traffic is certainly a reality we’re facing daily, and I myself experience that same traffic every time I head downtown to the Legislature, and I can testify to the serious frustration of being stuck in bumper-to-bumper standstills. One solution I’m working hard to get done is a constructed High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) bus lane from the West Shore to downtown Victoria, transporting people on BC Transit buses directly and immediately so they don’t get stuck in traffic. We got moving on this vision late last year with a $13M investment on the part of the Province, federal government and BC Transit into getting HOV bus lanes on the Old Island Highway, again with the simple goal of keeping people moving. If your question to me is whether or not I’m going to fight for better transportation and infrastructure, here’s my answer: you bet I am.
For housing proposals rejected by councils, is the Province considering the establishment of a review panel to independently review an application?
I’ve asked the Ministry of Housing, and confirmed they are not considering the establishment of a review panel to independently review housing applications. As a government we support municipalities’ ability to determine what the housing will look like in their communities, and recognize that we need to work with our municipal partners to cut red tape and get more homes built faster for people, which is why we’ve been taking action to do just this.
As we take action to speed up provincial processes, government has consulted with these municipalities to set ambitious, and achievable, targets to build the homes people need and deserve, quickly. In addition to the targets, we encourage all communities across the province to take the actions needed now to speed up local processes – and it’s been great to see many already have done this. We’re also making sure they’re not alone in this, and the Ministry of Housing has been working on our part as well to speed up provincial processes. We will continue to help them speed up local approval processes through the continued implementation of the Development Approvals Process Review, and accelerated provincial approvals. I continue to be excited to work with my partners in the municipal world to address the current housing crisis and keep building a community that has the tools it needs to thrive.
Your government established housing targets for several local municipalities. This appears to be a work-around instead of amalgamating the 13 municipalities to create mandatory regional planning for housing, transportation and infrastructure. Isn’t it time to amalgamate the municipalities and establish real regional planning?
At this point, I don’t think it’s my place to say whether amalgamation is the right answer. As an MLA and community member, I’m always interested to hear the perspectives of my constituents and neighbours as well as municipal experts on the matter, so I can be better informed and hear where people stand. I would look forward to hearing more from people in the community if and when this is a decision before us, but that is not the case as of now. For now, we continue to have 13 municipalities and these housing targets are based on the needs and expectation of each municipality, all of which will be better served by more plentiful, affordable, and accessible housing.
With the recent rezoning legislation, your government expanded Development Cost Charges (DCCs) to include fire and police stations, solid waste facilities and highways. There is a Best Practices Guide saying DCCs must be applied with “Fairness and Equity, Accountability, and Certainty.” However, this is not enforced by the province and municipal DCC increases have been 100% or more. Doesn’t this undermine the affordability of the new housing?
All DCCs are reviewed by the Inspector of Municipalities, this is not a political role and the decisions of the Inspector are made at an arms length from government to maintain the accountability they are expected to have. While increased DCCs are a reality, the changes we’ve brought in last fall also are saving time for developers who can get through the proposal and approvals processes quicker. This means they’re saving time, which saves costs on things like admin and all the hard work that was previously spent on longer, more difficult processes to get housing delivered. It also means that people are getting the housing they need faster and more efficiently and our housing supply can grow more quicky, while the services people need in growing communities like fire, police, waste facilities, and highways are available and well-maintained. People in communities need housing now, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of our government’s work to make housing more plentiful and affordable in our community.
In addition to the housing supply crisis, there is a severe skilled trades shortage. There are thousands of students in university programs that could be taking carpentry and other trades as electives, if permitted by the education administrators. Do you support enabling university students taking electives in trades, to address the shortage and provide a more well-rounded education?
There’s absolutely a need for people who are qualified in skilled trades and we know an education in trades is highly valuable and rewarding for those who want to pursue it and their communities who benefit from having skilled tradespeople working locally. B.C.’s public post-secondary institutions are key in the apprenticeship system and in training the next generation of skilled trade workers in B.C., and these Post-secondary institutions are responsible for their own curriculum.
Each institution choses its curriculum and elective criteria independently of government. Currently, cohort-based programs, particularly those leading to occupations that are certified/regulated like those in the trades don’t usually lend themselves to people taking a single or handful or elective courses, as curriculum is designed across courses to build students’ knowledge towards a credential. As a government, we continue to invest in the trades through SkilledTradesBC with over $100 million a year provided for trades education and supports. We’re also lucky to have School Districts like the Sooke School District as partners in promoting and starting trades education, offering four trades training programs for youth in grades 5 through 12. We’ve had more youth participating in high school trades program than ever before – 9,500 registered this past school year. It's part of our plan for the future to continue helping thousands of people get the skills they need to succeed and helping to close the gap many sectors are facing, including in the skilled trades.
We've heard a little bit about an upcoming new initiative from your government to build more middle-income housing. Can you tell us more about what communities, residents, and developers can expect with the new BC Builds initiative?
I am excited about the launch of BC Builds later this year. It’s a key commitment of the Premier to ensure that we are building not only low-cost housing but also the types of housing that middle-income earners can find a home in. Further details will be released when the program launches but what I can say is that it will be unique. BC Builds will take advantage of underutilized provincial land that could be made available for housing and will involve Indigenous partners, local governments, homebuilders and many more. C
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