The Official Community Plan (OCP) is a Town bylaw that defines policies for land use and development. An OCP takes a long-range view to ensure that the long-term needs of the community are met. It defines policies for land use and growth management for the long term benefit of the community. All other plans and policies must comply with the OCP.
Official Community Plan
2025 Official Community Plan Update
The OCP is reviewed and updated during an open, inclusive public engagement which has occurred approximately every six years. Following this OCP Review, a review will occur every five years in alignment with new Provincial housing legislation.
The 2025 OCP update will mark over 65 years since the adoption of the 1957 Land Use Plan that the Town is still building on today.
Impacts of New Provincial Housing Legislation
In 2023, province-wide legislation to increase housing density and availability was enacted. To meet these mandatory Provincial requirements, the Town of Qualicum Beach has updated its zoning bylaws and policies. Learn more about Provincial Housing Changes.
As an impact of the provincial legislation, the Town has delayed the Quality of Life Survey until late 2024, and the OCP Review until 2025. The scope of the OCP review will also be affected, as the province requires all municipalities to update their OCP prior to December 31, 2025.
2018 Official Community Plan
Official Community Plan FAQ
The OCP reflects the community’s values and priorities.
By setting out a clear community vision today, we can shape our future growth in a way that is sustainable and provides a high quality of life for current and future residents.
This OCP Review will assess how housing policies align with the community’s vision and update them to reflect current housing market needs.
All municipal policies, plans and regulations must be in alignment with the OCP Bylaw, so it is a powerful guide for Town decision-making.
An effective OCP provides clear direction but does not preclude change based on evolving circumstances or interpretation of policies by Council and staff. In this way, an OCP is often considered a “living document”.
Council, Town staff, developers, and professionals use the OCP to align housing, land use, transportation, infrastructure, and amenities with community priorities. They also use the OCP to understand which areas are suitable for development and which are not (environmentally sensitive areas, steep slopes, hazardous areas, etc.).
The public can use the OCP to understand local issues, planned solutions, and potential changes in their neighbourhood.
The Quality of Life Survey (QLS) precedes the OCP Review, measuring satisfaction with municipal services, tracking trends in hobbies, transportation, and lifestyle, and gathering feedback on housing needs.
An OCP provides a broad vision of growth or change the community would like to see in the future. The OCP provides a vision for “what the community wants to be when it grows up”. This includes strategic, high-level policies, goals, and objectives. This vision can then be fine-tuned into specific, prescriptive rules and provisions through the use of subsequent plans and initiatives. All plans and policies in a municipality must be aligned with the strategic goals and visions laid out in the OCP.
By contrast, the Zoning Bylaw provides specific, prescriptive provisions which permit properties to be used in certain ways. Rather than providing a long-term “vision”, the Zoning Bylaw regulates “what the Town is today”. For instance, the OCP will designate areas as residential, commercial etc., whereas the Zoning Bylaw provides parameters of use such as building siting and setbacks, height, parcel coverage, and density.