Metro Vancouver Regional District looking to improve walkability, support the transition to EVs, and reduce the negative impacts of goods movement on people’s health

As I posted yesterday, Metro Vancouver Regional District staff are updating the Regional Growth Strategy. All municipalities must adhere to this strategy, and all municipal councils must agree to adopt the strategy. As a result, the region only updates this strategy every 15 years. The name of the updated strategy is Metro 2050.

Yesterday’s post focused on proposed updates to the strategy to strengthen policies for affordable housing and housing for people with lower incomes. Today, I will post about updates to the strategy’s goal to support sustainable transportation choices such as using transit, cycling, walking, or wheeling as well as goods movement.

Metro 2050 will align with TransLink’s Transport 2050 long-range plan. Metro 2050 addresses land-use policies that impact people’s transportation choices, while Transport 2050 will focus on delivering regional transportation infrastructure and transit service.

Municipalities in our region will be required to update their Offical Community Plans to show:

• How their land-use policies will encourage more people to walk, cycle, take transit, or carpool
• How they will enhance walkability, including providing an accessible, grid-like pedestrian network
• How they will support managing parking supply, implementing transit priority measures, rideshare, mobility pricing, and car-sharing
• How they will support the transition to zero-emission vehicles such as requiring EV charging in new multifamily housing
• How they will support the completion of the Regional Greenways 2050 plan
• How they will coordinate with adjacent jurisdictions for inter-connectivity
• Safe and efficient routes for moving goods and service vehicles
• Land-use and other policies to optimize the transportation of goods from industrial areas to shipping facilities such as ports, airports, railways, and major highways
• Land-use policies that support e-commerce distribution
• Policies and actions to minimize public exposure to unhealthy levels of noise, vibration, and pollution caused by the use of major transportation corridors

For more information, please read the May 7th Regional Planning Committee agenda.