The city is so far exceeding a key development goal laid out in its new Official Community Plan (OCP).
About 91 per cent of development activity so far this year has taken place in existing neighbourhoods, the City of Abbotsford’s director of community planning recently told council. That figure exceeds the 75 per cent target set in the OCP adopted last year.
The 75 per cent target attempts to increase density across the city and ensure building is taking place in areas with built-up services and amenities.
Maintaining such a high rate of development in existing neighbourhoods may be difficult in the coming years. The city is in the midst of work for its McKee Peak neighbourhood plan. Once complete, there will likely be an uptick in development in areas designated as new neighbourhoods on Sumas Mountain.
Significant work is still to come on the 1,400-unit Vicarro Ranch project, which was approved by council last year for a 383-acre area straddling the upper reaches of Whatcom Road.
Also presented to council was a report outlining major development projects underway or in the approval process.
They include:
– an 81,655-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building approved for Townline Road;
– a 9,418-square-foot office building approved on Ritchie Smith’s Enterprise Avenue property;
– a 11,248-square-foot Christian recovery house building approved for Braeside Street;
– a new warehouse and office building north of Abbotsford International Airport for which Glencoe Electric is seeking approval;
– a proposed 39,000-square-foot commercial development at the now-closed Cannor Nursery on Marshall Road, near Riverside Road, which will be anchored by No Frills, a low-cost grocer;
– a 115-unit townhouse development approved for near the Langley border;
– a five-storey, 60-unit apartment building approved for Bourquin Crescent;
– a 210-unit mixed-use development proposed for King Road in the UDistrict; and
– 169 single-family home applications under review in the Eagle Mountain area, along with 94 new lots in Auguston.