Abbotsforward 2050 Draft OCP Changes

This now‑deleted 2014 Abbotsforward tweet showcased the City’s own advice on street connectivity—guidance largely absent in practice.

 

The City of Abbotsford has invited stakeholders to provide feedback online regarding its 2050 draft official community plan (OCP) changes. Here are the relevant links:

Overview:
https://letstalkabbotsford.ca/ocp

Community Open House Engagement Dates:
https://letstalkabbotsford.ca/ocp/widgets/204193/key_dates#60763

Survey:
https://letstalkabbotsford.ca/ocp?tool=survey_tool#tool_tab

Urban3’s fiscal‑productivity model (not included in Abbotsford’s draft OCP) shows how compact, mixed‑use parcels outperform low‑density parcels in revenue per hectare.

Three fundamental concerns regarding the draft OCP changes:

A) The draft OCP fails to quantify the cost of low‑density expansion. Council acknowledged a mounting infrastructure deficit in March 2025, yet continues to approve unproductive land use such as the McKee Peak development and strip malls. Without Urban3-style revenue‑and‑cost analysis and best practices in urban planning, property taxes will likely rise beyond inflation while municipal GDP per hectare falls. (See the “Iceberg Effect” section of my McKee Neighbourhood Plan opinion.)

B) Speculator discouragement [refer to the first section in this blog post]

C) Establish an urban‑development project evaluation, like the one developed by Abbotsford's Policy Corner (APC) to help City Council, staff, journalists, and the public self‑evaluate development projects (view the APC project evaluation).

Looking south on Vedder Way: the lack of a shelter and crosswalk illustrates a recurring gap between Official Community Plan (OCP) and Transportation and Transit Master Plan (TTMP) objectives and infrastructure delivery adopted in 2016 and 2018, when permits were issued for upgrades at the major box store across the street.

My Opinion Summary of the Draft OCP Changes:

The draft OCP omits, weakens or does not reinforce many current best practices in urban planning or the objectives of the Official Community Plan (OCP) and Transportation and Transit Master Plan (TTMP) adopted in 2016 and 2018 [view copies of these plans]:

1 Governance, Finance & Implementation

• Revenue and cost modelling (video essay)
• The City of Abbotsford continues to make urban planning and transportation decisions without revenue and cost modelling, such as the McKee Peak development decision.
• An implementation dashboard with clear metrics (example)
• The City of Abbotsford lacks key performance indicators for projects, operations, etc.

2 Housing, Density & Affordability

• Apartment, co‑operative, missing‑middle multiplex and rental‑tenure housing (examples) with community gardens, fully accessible play areas and turn-key parking for home care workers.
• Inclusionary and rental‑only zoning for permanent affordability
• Live–work units
• How does forcing small businesses into strip malls owned by real estate investment trusts (REIT) lower economic input costs while encouraging commerce and innovation?
• Tiny‑home zoning (backyard secondary units) (related post - see item two)
• Year‑round public markets in neighbourhood nodes
• e.g., How can the City have delightful neighbourhoods and community nodes without basic neighbourhood amenities like cafes, corner stores, curiosity shops and professional services? 
• Higher, non‑thoroughfare density around Mill Lake and the central urban area; multi‑family housing should front secondary streets, active‑transport corridors or complete streets, not high‑volume arterials.
• Tourist lodgings—inns, B&Bs—within walkable precincts, especially along the Discovery Trail and Experience the Fraser trail.
• These trails, if they had community nodes at the start, finish and 10km increments, would be ideal for overnight visitor walking tours with luggage moved forward to the next accommodation along the trail via shuttle.
• Permit missing middle multi-plexes on all lots in the urban centre (examples)
• Remove minimum lot sizes in existing neighbourhoods
• Expedite permit approvals for housing (post)

3 Mobility, Accessibility & Streetscapes

• Delightful all‑ages‑and‑abilities (AAA) active‑transport networks
• 15‑minute‑neighbourhood standards
• Mid-block pedestrian connections (walkways)
• e.g., Many established suburban sprawl neighbourhoods in Abbotsford have no pedestrian connections. The City should actively be acquiring land to connect neighbourhoods, streets and community nodes and centres.
• Complete streets
• e.g., Why are new streets around Cooper Farm not complete streets or meet basic AAA productivity standards? The Government of Canada partially funded the Vye Road overpass to have the City design the overpass and intersection below basic AAA standards, costing productivity gains.)
• Mode‑shift targets and the “trick‑or‑treat” test for permeability
• e.g., New developments on Sumas Mountain and the McKee Peak development plan do not pass this test or any measure of best practices in urban planning and productivity.
• Eliminate parking minimums in the core
• e.g., The City has not implemented car-share incentives like the City of Kelowna or established street-level bicycle and mobility aid scooter parking minimum garages in multi-family developments or commercial office buildings. Nor does the City have a bicycle rack incentive program, like the City of Kelowna, for small businesses.
• Planned land acquisition for greenways and mid‑block walkways
• e.g., Why has the City not been active in buying residential lots for sale within the Centennial Park (Mill Lake) block? Why has the City not established pocket parks, which are easily carved out in new developments or when roads are transformed to complete streets?
• Disallow drive-thrus in the core urban area and community nodes and centres
• e.g., The City of Abbotsford did not follow its own policy, while lowering productivity and quality of life, allowing a quick serve drive-thru at Clayburn Centre Shopping Centre.
• Transit: Bench, shelter and frequency improvements—or on‑demand transit—in low‑density areas. Every transit stop must have a bench and shelter.
• e.g., Benches and shelters are part of development cost charges; it's disappointing that the City of Abbotsford has poorly managed these fees, with many transit stops without benches or shelters, negating one of the City's core responsibilities, while quickly sourcing funds for cosmetic leaseholder improvements for the billionaire for-profit owner of the Abbotsford Canucks at Abbotsford Centre [article] or friviously spending airport dividends on an exclusive airshow chalet or premium chalet tickets for City Council members (freedom of information file 0580-20/2022-159).
• If the City is incapable of delivering its core service responsibility of offering high-quality transit amenities, allow non-profits or commercial property owners to install benches at transit stops, a policy adopted by the City of Richmond in California [policy overview]
• e.g., Why does the City have a fleet of non-specialized vehicles for staff use when it has a transit system? This is akin to airline executives using private jets instead of their airline network.

4 Community Facilities & Social Infrastructure

• Municipal multi-family building recycling, compost and waste disposal to increase productivity [video essay]
• e.g., Why do residents of multi-family buildings—who already pay a higher property-tax rate per square metre than lower-density single-family homeowners—still lack City-provided recycling, compost, and garbage collection, even though single-family households receive these services at a cost that is effectively subsidized by the majority of Abbotsford’s higher-productivity, multi-family residents?
• Non‑market property tax-free space for childcare
• e.g., To increase productivity, prioritize at transit hubs and Abbotsford Airport, next to the airport transit stop nearest the Flying Club building
• Neighbourhood community and recreation centres
• Community squares, nodes, pocket parks, parklets and gardens
• e.g., In the Cooper Farm development, a community node was non-existent, and a people-focused walkable community centre, like Whistler, did not exist in the McKee Peak development proposal.
• e.g., Community nodes along trail networks and interurban rail line
• Bioswales on new and existing streets (about bioswales)

5 Environmental Resilience & Public Health

• Climate‑resilient blue‑green infrastructure
• Sufficient urban tree canopy
• Noise and dust mitigation via mode shift
• Revise the urban‑containment boundary to curb McKee Peak urban sprawl

6 Culture, Heritage & Reconciliation

• Cultural‑heritage protection
• Indigenous reconciliation (e.g., McKee Peak) (article)
• Public art implementation

Key Vision Projects

Destination hotel & conference centre at the MSA Arena site, overlooking Mill Lake (Lekw’ōquem (pronounced roughly Le-kwaw-kwum)) and Mt. Baker, modelled on Victoria’s atrium style Conference Centre to showcase our climate, history and geography.

Sales‑centric Visitor Information Centre capturing Hwy 1 and Hwy 11 traffic by re-opening the Sumas Way Visitor Information Centre to welcome visitors and new residents. A key market often neglected regarding the former Visitor Centre location is California-Alaska traffic. The City needs to capture this, and east and west, traffic to increase commerce in the municipality.

The airport visitor centre needs to be operated year-round and relocated along the wall next to the domestic arrivals door, with a staff schedule to capture the highest volume of flight and interurban bus arrivals daily.

With more visitors arriving from Metro Vancouver by BC Transit, a seasonal pop-up visitor centre at the High Street transit exchange would be appropriate.

Entrepreneurship Centre modelled on Kelowna’s Innovation Centre.

Special third party parks‑and‑recreation zoning enabling attractions (e.g., amusements) that may not be economically viable due to real estate speculation or seasonality, but offer a high-community lifestyle and tourism contribution, operated by non-profit and for-profit groups under long‑term leases, similar to Science World or provincial park leases (e.g., Manning Park Resort).

Completion of the Discovery Trail around Highway 11 with hospitality nodes at the start, finish and 10km points. e.g., A pedestrian crossing is needed at Bateman Road and Highway 11.

City‑owned campground contracted to a non-profit to manage, similar to municipal-owned campgrounds in Princeton and Salmo, British Columbia.

Non‑market (property tax fee) medical campus anchored by a city‑owned clinic (Colwood model) for non-elective medical services. Ideally, the City, with the Government of British Columbia, should purchase the McCallum Tower complex, expand it and integrate it with transit and active transportation networks.

City‑commissioned development corporation to assemble land and attract investment and for community infrastructure (e.g., park expansion, public squares and community nodes, leasable municipal-owned land for attractions, trail and rail right of way acquisition, mid-block pedestrian connections (walkways) right of ways, transit, government services, medical campus) like Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation.

Active Transportation Trails:

• Complete the Discovery Trail around Highway 11 with hospitality nodes at the start, finish and 10km points. 
• e.g., A pedestrian crossing and bicycle crossing activation button is needed at Bateman Road and Highway 11.
• Complete the Experience the Fraser (ETF) Trail [more information]
• Develop a new north and south rail trail adjacent to Southern Railway lines connecting Matsqui, Downtown, and Sumas
• e.g., Link it to Matsqui Village, Mission Bridge, Matsqui VIA Rail Station, Clayburn Village, Huntingdon and Sumas Village, plus the ETF and Discovery Trails, and Highway 1 corridor active transportation projects in planning.
• Complete a Trail around the Abbotsford Airport property that connects to the Albert Dyck Park and the Discovery Trails. A completed plan developed in the early 2000s for an airport trail is in the municipal archives.

Beyond productivity and quality of life benefits, a completed trail network with appropriate community nodes and hospitality services at start, end and 10-kilometre interval points would produce, with our geography, history and climate, a high-quality sustainable tourism product comparable to European walking tours, luring visitor commerce to the City.

Related Issue Regarding the Draft OCP Changes Survey Approach

“Abbotsford wasting time and money on ‘invalid’ surveys, UFV math prof says,” Tyler Olsen, Abbotsford News – 24 May 2019

Unless the City pairs the draft‑OCP questionnaire with a probability‑based sample or robust weighting strategy, the shortcomings Olsen highlighted remain, and any claim that the survey “reflects Abbotsford residents” should be viewed with caution.

Keywords: Abbotsford, official community plan, OCP update, opinion