For the first time since 1979, 91原创 Township will be looking at redoing its Official Community Plan.
A lot has changed since 1979 in 91原创 鈥� the population has doubled since then, now topping 100,000 people.
Large plots of farmland are now malls, big box stores and high density housing. Old farmsteads have been torn down along places like 208 Street, where high density housing has gone in.
But other areas like Aldergrove, with some areas zoned industrial yet standing beside housing, need a fresh look, said Township administrator Mark Bakken.
Brookswood also may be changing and little tweaks here and there in Fort 91原创 need to take place too, he said.
He said the Township has made minor changes to the OCP since 1979.
At its June 17 meeting, council gave the new OCP first and second reading, but asked for a full workshop session on what exact changes are planned and what they can include.
The OCP document council was given is more than 200 pages.
It鈥檚 being done because Metro Vancouver requires a Regional Context Statement by July 29 鈥� for its regional growth strategy.
The battle which has come out of this, is who gets to decide on land use in 91原创 鈥� Metro Vancouver or 91原创 Township council.
鈥淲e would rather 91原创 make the decisions,鈥� said Councillor Steve Ferguson.
This conflict of Metro versus municipality came up with the university district proposed for property owned by and neighbouring Trinity Western University.
The Township loved the concept and adopted it while Metro attempted to refuse it 鈥� even threatening legal action to block it.
Metro, which has already threatened legal action, says the plan to intensively develop outside the growth strategy鈥檚 urban containment boundary means the Township would have to table a new regional context statement and possibly also propose an amendment to the growth strategy 鈥� both of which would submit the plan to a vote of the Metro board.
The Township鈥檚 position is that it is not yet subject to the new growth strategy because of a two-year transition period and can develop the lands without Metro approval, since the rezoning already has conditional approval of the Agricultural Land Commission.
Council cautioned on making any large zoning changes, because once that is put into the OCP, it would take a two-thirds majority vote from Metro to change it.
Bakken said the changes to the OCP are subtle but the unknown still lies in who will hold the power, Metro or 91原创.
