The B.C. government is making changes to allow its Transportation Financing Authority to buy land near bus exchanges and transit stations for housing and services such as shops, health-care centres and recreation facilities.
Changes to the Transportation Act introduced Tuesday would allow the province to shape growth around transit, increase housing density and build connected communities, the government said.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps called the announcement “great news,” saying housing should be built near transit services.
“Transit-oriented development is how we build sustainable, compact cities,” she said. “It’s a small tinker, but it can have a big impact, because it will now give the minister of transportation the authority to buy land not only for transit infrastructure but also for housing.”
Helps said she could see the new process come into play around Uptown and all along the Douglas corridor. “It’s a really good move.”
Saanich Coun. Susan Brice, who chairs the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, also said she likes the way the changes will connect transit and land use, including housing.
“I think that would be positive,” she said. “Obviously you have to wait to see the details, but we have — certainly from transit’s perspective — always felt that transit without a land-use application, or vice versa, just doesn’t work.
The amendments will give the B.C. Transportation Financing Authority the ability to acquire and improve land in support of housing and amenities near public transit stations or exchanges.
Currently, the financing authority can purchase land for transportation projects but can’t acquire additional property to facilitate transit-related development, like housing, which has created challenges when it comes to shaping growth around station sites and increasing housing density, the province said in a statement.
The government said the goal is to promote communities that make it easy for pedestrians, cyclists and those who use mobility aids to access the nearest transit hub.
Such communities are typically within an 800-metre radius of a transit station.
It said building housing near transit hubs is proven to increase transit use, pointing to a 35 per cent boost in ridership at the Marine Drive Canada Line station in Vancouver after more residential buildings went up around the station.
“Public transit isn’t just getting people from A to B, it’s also about greener and more livable communities,” said Transportation Minister Rob Fleming. “We will increase the level of affordable housing and services that are integrated into our significant investments in transit.”
