Employment lands
The urban structure provides diverse opportunities for economic activity, such as office and retail in centres, employment in schools and Capilano University and home-based businesses.
In addition to these, our industrial and light industrial employment lands play a vital role in achieving our vision of becoming a more complete and balanced community.
These areas are predominantly dedicated to employment uses. The development of employment lands should provide for a continued and expanded supply of quality local jobs, enable reduced commuting times and associated greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the municipality’s prosperity. The District’s objective for employment lands is to encourage wealth-generating investment resulting in net new employment and increased tax revenue, which benefits the whole community.
Located in Lower Capilano, Lower Lynn, and Maplewood, land use in these employment areas are comprised of two designations:
- Industrial — Port-oriented and major industrial type uses such as transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing
- Light Industrial Commercial — light industrial and business or “tech” park type uses including research and development
2030 EMPLOYMENT LANDS TARGET: 33% increase in built square feet in employment lands
Protecting the employment function of employment lands
Protecting employment lands provides stability and reassurance to existing and potential business owners and industries, which increases the likelihood of long-term business investment in the community.
Reaching our employment lands protection objective
Our objective is to ensure an adequate supply of land for business exists to enable significant economic activity and jobs in the community.
We plan to achieve this by taking these actions:
- Monitor the availability of Industrial and Light Industrial Commercial land and developable floor space to facilitate an adequate supply for economic growth
- Limit residential uses to accessory care-taker units, and to live-work units in Light Industrial Commercial areas within or proximate to the network of centres
- Direct major retail uses to the network of centres and limit retail in Industrial and Light Industrial Commercial areas to compatible accessory uses and to appropriate conditional uses
- Direct major office uses to sites within and proximate to the network of centres
Intensifying uses on employment lands
With constraints on land supply, it is important to make efficient use of available areas on all employment lands. Intensifying economic uses in employment lands allows businesses to grow while keeping their overall footprint in the community small.
Reaching our employment lands objective
The District’s objective is to make more intense use of our employment land base. This means more jobs per acre, more opportunities for new business, and more revenue generating opportunities within the community.
We plan to achieve this by taking these actions:
- Encourage a productive and efficient use of employment lands
- Encourage infill development and the redevelopment of under utilized sites with Industrial and Light Industrial Commercial uses
Enabling a diverse range of economic uses within employment lands
Diversity provides stability across the ups and downs of particular industries and sectors, which helps ensure our ongoing vibrancy. The economy is continually changing, and over the long-term horizon of this plan it is important for businesses to be able to change to take advantage of new opportunities, introduce new products, and use new technologies. Some businesses need many uses on the same site.
Reaching our objective of diverse economic uses
Our objective is to provide flexibility for businesses to grow and adapt, while avoiding land use conflicts.
We plan to achieve this by taking these actions:
- Encourage flexibility of compatible uses while preserving the primary function of employment lands
- Preserve Industrial designated lands for industrial uses and uses that are accessory or supportive of industrial activities
- Facilitate an appropriate mix of light industrial and non-retail commercial uses in Light Industrial Commercial designated lands
Ensuring a high quality business environment in employment lands
As businesses can often choose to locate in a number of municipalities, it is important to ensure the District remains an attractive and competitive location for a wide range of business types with well-served, high quality employment spaces.
Reaching our objective for a high quality business environment
Our objective is to attract new businesses and encourage existing businesses to reinvest or expand.
We plan to achieve this by taking these actions:
- Promote infrastructure, transportation and municipal service improvements in areas designated for Industrial and Light Industrial Commercial uses
- Encourage high quality development standards to create desirable employment locations
- Encourage effective buffering and transitioning between employment and non-employment lands
Land use designations for employment lands
The OCP designates the preferred location of land uses — residential, commercial, and institutional — for housing, jobs, parks, and schools.
The designations include floor space ratios (FSR), which provide guidance regarding the general massing and approximate density of development.