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WCEL
> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide >
Overview
Smart Bylaws Guide – Overview
Smart Growth Principles
With a projected 1.6 million more people calling BC home in 2025,
municipalities are turning to smart growth approaches to maintain
the livability of communities while ensuring that municipal costs do
not snowball. Most importantly, this means using the landbase more
efficiently and protecting working lands. It also means providing
more choices – in housing, transportation and recreation – for
our changing communities.
While population growth has had the greatest impact on the use of
land over the past twenty-five years, changing demographics will
have the largest effect in the near future. Over the next
twenty-five years, the elder population in BC will increase by 100
percent – from 12.5 to 25 percent of the population. Household
sizes are becoming smaller, while the population is growing. These
demographic trends are resulting in more demand for different types
of housing, including apartments, and access to nearby services. At
the same time, many communities are limited geographically. Outward
expansion is not possible.
- Promoting urban revitalization and rural
preservation by containing urban areas, channelling
development into existing neighbourhoods and adopting integrated
planning and management approaches
- Incorporating green infrastructure into communities
- Creating compact complete communities by mixing land uses and
using land more efficiently
- Increasing transportation choices through land use
decisions
- Creating inclusive neighbourhoods by ensuring that a diversity
of housing types are accessible to a wide range of people of
different age groups, family types and incomes
- Maximizing the enduring benefits of developments by using
resources wisely on sites and in buildings that are tailored to
specific neighbourhood conditions
- Supporting municipal goals through cost recovery by ensuring
that development cost charges and property taxes reflect the
true cost of different types of growth
- Promoting smart growth throughout the development process by
reforming administrative processes and addressing liability
issues
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