Housing Needs Report, Bylaw 1230, and the OCP — What Actually Happened

What the Housing Needs Report Is

The Village’s Housing Needs Report (HNR) is a provincial compliance document. It was prepared using the Province’s automated Housing Needs Assessment Tool (HART) to meet minimum legislative requirements.

The HNR:

  • Identifies housing need categories

  • Produces unit estimates using a standardized formula

  • Meets provincial reporting requirements

The HNR does not analyze:

  • Infrastructure or servicing capacity

  • Land availability or suitability

  • Hazard or risk constraints

  • Fiscal impacts

  • Development phasing or sequencing

By design, it is not a land-use or zoning study.

What Bylaw 1230 Did

Bylaw 1230 is a local zoning decision adopted by Council. It creates permanent zoning permissions and establishes as-of-right development expectations.

Zoning changes are not required by the Province. They are discretionary policy choices made by Council.

Where the OCP Is Supposed to Fit

The Official Community Plan (OCP) is the document that should integrate:

  • Housing need

  • Infrastructure capacity

  • Land use and hazard constraints

  • Community impacts

  • Financial sustainability

Zoning decisions are normally expected to flow from OCP-level analysis, not around it.

The Governance Issue

Questions were raised before Bylaw 1230 was adopted asking:

  • Who authored the Housing Needs Report

  • What its limits were

  • Whether it justified zoning changes

The Village later confirmed:

  • The HNR meets minimum provincial requirements

  • It is calculator-based

  • It does not include infrastructure or capacity analysis

What has not been clearly stated is whether any professional planning advice linked the Housing Needs Report to the zoning changes adopted under Bylaw 1230, or where that advice is documented.

Why This Matters

A report that explicitly excludes infrastructure, capacity, and land-use analysis should not be relied on in isolation to justify permanent zoning changes.

This is not a dispute about individuals or credentials.
It is a question of process, sequencing, and accountability.

Minimum provincial compliance does not replace Council’s responsibility to ensure zoning decisions are supported by complete, integrated analysis consistent with the OCP.

Timeline: Housing Needs Report → Bylaw 1230

Dec 2, 2025
Questions sent to Council requesting clarification on the Housing Needs Report’s authorship, scope, and use.

Dec 15, 2025 (Council Meeting)
Council discussion of the correspondence:

  • Authorship characterized as unimportant

  • Report described as containing “modelling”

  • Infrastructure stated to be outside the report’s scope

Dec 15, 2025
Bylaw 1230 adopted, creating permanent zoning permissions.

Dec 16, 2025
Follow-up email sent correcting the record and formally requesting clarification on:

  • Professional role and scope

  • Whether the report justified zoning changes

  • How decisions align with the OCP

Subsequent Response (CAO)
Village confirmed the Housing Needs Report:

  • Meets provincial minimum requirements

  • Was prepared using an automated provincial calculator

  • Does not include infrastructure or capacity analysis

To date
No written clarification linking the Housing Needs Report to the zoning changes in Bylaw 1230, or identifying where such advice is documented.

What Was Answered vs. What Was Not

Answered

  • ✔ The Housing Needs Report meets provincial compliance requirements

  • ✔ The report relies on the Province’s Housing Needs Assessment Tool (HART)

  • ✔ The report identifies housing need, not development locations

  • ✔ The report excludes infrastructure and servicing analysis

Not Answered

  • ❌ Whether the Housing Needs Report was intended or presented as professional advice supporting zoning changes

  • ❌ Whether any separate planning analysis linked the report to Bylaw 1230

  • ❌ Where, if anywhere, OCP-level integration (infrastructure, capacity, impacts) was assessed prior to rezoning

  • ❌ How permanent zoning changes were justified given the report’s acknowledged limits

Key Takeaway (Plain Language)

The Village has confirmed that the Housing Needs Report is a minimum-standard, calculator-based compliance document.
It has not confirmed that the report justifies zoning changes, nor explained how Bylaw 1230 aligns with integrated OCP analysis.

This is not a dispute about planners or credentials.
It is a question of process, sequencing, and accountability.

Zoning decisions create long-term obligations. Those decisions should follow — not precede — integrated analysis of infrastructure, land capacity, and community impact.