In response to new provincial housing legislation changes, the City is considering updates to its Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw—the tools used to plan our communities. As we plan for future growth, we’re committed to keeping our city livable and vibrant. We’re currently exploring two primary focus areas: low-density housing (for instance, duplexes or fourplexes); and higher density housing on City-owned lands (City Lands).
Why are we updating our planning tools?
Recently, the Government of British Columbia introduced a suite of changes to rapidly increase housing construction across the province.
As part of these changes, the City (along with other cities across B.C.) is required by provincial legislation to:
In response to these changes, the City of North Vancouver:
-
Completed an Interim Housing Needs Report in December 2024, which outlined the City’s anticipated 20-year housing needs
-
Determined how much of the 20-year housing need is already accounted for in the City’s planning tools and how much additional capacity is still needed. Through this, we know that he Zoning Bylaw needs updating to add capacity for another 6,556 housing units. To add that capacity into the Zoning Bylaw, some changes to the Official Community Plan may be required
In June 2025, Council directed staff to find ways to accommodate these future housing needs through updates to the City’s planning tools—the Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw. Two key strategies the City is exploring include: the addition of low density housing that protects the existing character of residential neighbourhoods; and increasing the future development potential – the number of homes – on five City-owned Lands.
Low-Density Housing in Residential Neighbourhoods
One way the City could grow while protecting the existing character of our neighbourhoods is through “low-density housing”. Low-density housing includes: single-detached houses, coach houses or laneway homes, townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, row houses and secondary suites. We can use low-density housing to grow livable neighbourhoods by gently increasing the availability of homes while still maintaining the existing look and feel of our residential neighbourhoods.
The map below shows the proposed areas of the City where we are considering low-density housing: up to four units in some residential areas and up to 6 in the city center and frequent transit areas.
Click to view full-size image.
City Lands
Another option we’re exploring is to increase density on City Lands near the city center and frequent transit areas. This will provide the City and Council a higher degree of control over the pace and rate of growth, help optimize the value of City assets, fund City amenities, and provide a diversity of housing types.
Learn more on the City Lands Planning page.
Next steps
July 2025
- Community engagement to inform Zoning and Official Community Plan changes.
Fall 2025
- Staff will present recommendations to Council, based on engagement findings.
Contact Us
Planning & Development Team
Phone: 604-982-9675
Email: zoningupdate@cnv.org
_Webpage_small_772x175.jpg)