Kaslo updates community plan around 295-unit housing projection
Kaslo, on the west shore of Kootenay Lake, has updated its Official Community Plan around a projected need for 295 additional housing units by 2041.
Photo: Village of Kaslo
Kaslo has adopted changes to its Official Community Plan built around a provincially calculated need for 295 additional housing units by 2041.
Council adopted Official Community Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 1340 at a special meeting Aug. 25, following a public hearing earlier that evening. The update incorporates Kaslo’s housing-needs work and responds to provincial requirements that municipalities plan for at least 20 years of anticipated housing demand.
Kaslo’s 2024 Housing Needs Report calculates a need for 102 additional units between the 2021 base year and 2026, and 295 units between 2021 and 2041. The 20-year total includes 181 market units, 94 affordable or below-market units and 20 deeply affordable units.
The report says much of the projected demand comes from future population growth, while suppressed household formation and a demand-buffer adjustment also contribute significantly to the total.
Kaslo’s population was estimated at 1,080 in 2021 and is projected to reach about 1,335 by 2041. Housing affordability pressures are already pronounced among renters: the report found 36 per cent of renter households were spending an unaffordable share of their income on housing in 2021, while 46 per cent were in core housing need.
The report also cautions that the provincial methodology used to calculate future housing need can overestimate demand in municipalities with small populations. It describes the resulting projections as planning targets used to assess whether zoning provides enough capacity to accommodate potential demand.
Changes to B.C.’s Local Government Act require municipalities to consider their most recent housing-needs reports when updating official community plans. Municipalities must also ensure their plans provide for at least the 20-year housing total identified in those reports and that zoning permits the necessary uses and density.
Kaslo’s OCP review has also been intended to incorporate newer municipal planning work, including the South Kaslo Development Plan and Active Transportation Network Plan. The Village has been reviewing its zoning bylaw alongside the OCP, although current Village records show adoption of the OCP amendment on Aug. 25 and continue to list the new zoning bylaw as a draft.
At the Aug. 25 public hearing, Village staff summarized proposed changes involving housing, climate action, community planning, land use and administration. No members of the public spoke on the OCP amendment.
Council then gave Bylaw No. 1340 third reading and adopted it at the special meeting that followed.
The 295-unit figure represents a planning projection rather than a commitment by the Village to construct that number of homes.
A historic mine opening near Rossland’s Kootenay Columbia Trail will be permanently sealed, with a three-week trail closure beginning Sept. 28 so crews can complete the work.