For the first time since 1984, the City of Revelstoke is doing a comprehensive re-write of its 210-page Zoning Bylaw.

How property is zoned tells people how they can use the buildings on their land, and how they can use the land itself.

"For the first time ever in the history of this city we're going to be peeling out all the zones as they currently exist in the Zoning Bylaw and we're going to be replacing them with either new or modified zones that are reflective of the needs of the community today," said Paul Simon, the city's lead in the Planning and Development Services group.

The city updated its Official Community Plan last summer and its Housing Action Plan last spring, documents that will guide how the Zoning Bylaw is updated.

Public input in the process is also "critically important," Simon said.

The planning department updated part of the Zoning Bylaw, which passed in January 2022, addressing what Simon called "low hanging fruit." It included modifying the bylaw to allow garden and carriage suites, and to allow density bonusing in other parts of the city rather than only downtown. Density bonusing means that a developer can be allowed to build in more density on a property, in exchange for providing amenities to the community, which are usually in the form of affordable housing, Simon said.

This comprehensive re-write which planners are working on now will guide the future of business in the city such as what types of businesses are allowed where. It will guide how property owners are allowed to subdivide their land. The city write the bylaw in such a way that it helps address the current lack of affordable housing for the workforce.

It can do that by reducing the amount of required parking, and increasing the allowable density on some lots, Simon said.

Currently what the city hears from developers is with the high cost of land and construction in Revelstoke, coupled with the low density and high parking spaces requirements, they're struggling to make a profit. "There really not a lot of room to provide for the type of housing that the community is in need of," Simon said.

The city is about a month in to the re-writing process, and is holding a public information session on Wednesday, May 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the community centre.

Residents can also go online to the Talk Revelstoke site to fill in a survey.

A timeline on that website shows that planners will present a draft of the re-written bylaw to council in the fall of 2024.

Listen to a full interview with Paul Simon here: