Planning Services

• *Assumes provincially approved riparian assessment is available.
• Planning Applications start once officially accepted by staff, with confirmation of fee payment and assignment of an application number.
• The above is intended to serve as a guide for ensuring sufficient time is budgeted for the timing of your Planning Applications related to your project. Timelines can vary due to legislated requirements, SCRD’s relationship as a regional district with other government agencies involved in the approval process, and applicant coordination of key deliverables such as demonstrating servicing requirements.

SCRD’s Planning and Development Department is continuing to work on improving the quality of service delivered to customers and to the community. You can learn more about the Development Approvals Process Review (DAPR) project at https://letstalk.scrd.ca/dapr. Future bulletins will be offered at key milestones.

Results from Increased Front Line Service:

To enhance customer service experiences with development approvals the Planning & Development Front Counter Service was increased from two-days per week to three-days per week, starting May 1, with counter hours being as follows. To further improve frontline customer service and processing times for the most common planning application types, such as Development Permits, a new Planning Technician position was added in July 2024.

Based on these changes, customer service response time and speed of resolution for inquiries received via email and via the front counter have been improved. Consequently, calls for drop-in front counter service have fallen by approximately 50% relative to prior year while application volumes are only down about 15%. Processing time for development permits has been reduced from a 2023 average of 148 days to a 2024 average of 91 days. As well there was a consistent quarter-over-quarter decrease in processing time through the year. An average processing time of 34 days was achieved in Q4.

The mix of service channels is actively being monitored to ensure optimal customer service experience and resource efficiency.

New Structure Providing Focused Service:

Following confirmation by recommendations in KPMG’s Final Report on SCRD’s Development Approvals Process Review (DAPR), in the first half of 2024, the Planning Division was restructured into two branches to provide more focused service.

Having two separate branches for Community and Development Planning is common for Canadian local government planning departments and provides the benefit of focused service delivery, increased clarity on cost recovery, and enables progress on long-range planning policy work that was recommended in the DAPR report and is critical to efficient development processing. Application processing timelines have largely been maintained through this restructuring.

Process Improvements Completed Since Bulletin 1 (March 2024):

• Addition of Planning Technician position to allow for improvements to frontline customer service (front counter service, email, phone) and also improvements to processing of minor development applications (development permits).
• Update and standardization of Planning staff reports to Committees and Board, with a focus on conciseness, consistency and clarity.
• Continuing review and greater oversight of aspects of the development application process to ensure rigor and consistency.
• Successful grant application submitted to Union of BC Municipalities for Local Government Development Approvals Program (LGDAP) funding for $150,000 to initiate work to develop a Procedures Manual, detailed review of development related bylaws, and enhancement to applicant/public information on the development application process.
• Update of Procedures and Fees Bylaw to review fees with a lens of cost recovery based on staff time associated with process improvements and in support of financial sustainability and quality service.
• Completion of high-level process mapping for all development application types and identification of opportunities for improvement, to inform future areas of work (Procedures Manual, development bylaw review and updates etc.)

Upcoming and Underway Improvements:

• Review of Development Permit Areas to add clarity to their application.
• Initiation of LGDAP funded project to develop: a new Procedures Manual; detailed review of development related bylaws and identify necessary updates; and development of updated and enhances applicant/public information on the development application process.
• Initiation of project to provide public facing website information on current development applications.
• Review of the use of covenants for all development applications, with a particular focus on streamlining the Development Permit application process.
• Initiating the review and development of a strategy to make better use of Tempest/Prospero file management software to assist in the streamlining of the development application process.

Other Important Planning Projects:

• Official Community Plan renewal: project plan being finalized with work toward launch in 2025. To find out more, please visit the project LetsTalk page: https://letstalk.scrd.ca/ocp-update
• Updated Housing Needs Report completed, per Provincial legislative requirement:
  • Report – https://www.scrd.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-Nov-SCRD-Housing-Needs-Report-FINAL.pdf

• Summary – https://www.scrd.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-Nov-21-SCRD-Housing-Needs-Report-One-pager.pdf