Richmond city council will hold a public hearing Tuesday – on the subject of public hearings.
The province recently removed the default requirement for cities to hold public hearings on rezoning applications that comply with a city’s Official Community Plan (OCP), but it looks like Richmond will keep holding them despite this provincial change.
The province said, when it announced the changes to the Local Government Act, it would help municipalities speed up the approval process on housing projects.
In a previous meeting, city council unanimously supported retaining public hearings on all rezoning applications, and, on Tuesday, the public is being asked to comment on this bylaw.
While the proposed Richmond bylaw states public hearings will be automatically scheduled for all rezoning applications, city council will still have the ability, on a case-by-case basis, not to hold one.
Up until now, city council could waive public hearings, but the default was to hold one. If the new bylaw passes, city council will continue using the same procedure.
