North Cowichan and Duncan’s collaborative University Village Sustainable Local Area Plan sets climate-friendly urban design and land-use policies

The University Village Sustainable Local Area Plan (UVSLAP) sets land use and urban design guidelines for the area just north of downtown Duncan, near the Vancouver Island University Campus. It includes land within the Municipality of North Cowichan and the City of Duncan.

In 2007, North Cowichan and Duncan signed a Memorandum of Understanding that committed both municipalities to developing a local area plan for the University Village area. The two municipalities recognized that despite the fact that the area had evolved into a regional hub, it had been subject to inconsistent and ad hoc planning in the past. With development pressures mounting, and the increasing importance of sustainability to both municipalities, the time was right to initiate a comprehensive, sustainable and innovative planning process for the area. 

In 2013 North Cowichan and Duncan selected a private sector consulting team to prepare the Plan. Both municipalities then agreed to Terms of Reference and an extensive public engagement process that included consultation with the neighboring Cowichan Tribes. The Plan was adopted by North Cowichan as a Bylaw in July 2015.  The City of Duncan followed soon after, adopting a separate bylaw to implement its component of the Plan in September 2015.

Within the context of each community’s Official Community Plan, UVSLAP provides a finer level of planning and urban design for a unique, high-growth neighborhood for the next 30 years.  A major focus of UVSLAP is climate change mitigation. The Plan follows the climate action objectives of the OCPs of the Municipality of North Cowichan and the City of Duncan by creating a land use framework that prioritizes walking, cycling, and public transit; directs growth in an environmentally sustainable and efficient manner; and utilizes development concepts that contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions and create opportunities for greater energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption.

The Plan’s policies promote sustainability and GHG reductions in several distinct elements of urban design, including:

• built form (i.e. architecture and building design),
• street design,
• utilities servicing, 
• water conservation,
• recycling, and
• erosion and flood management.

The Plan’s policies for built forms are particularly notable for their innovative energy efficiency and sustainability policies.  The Plan specifies that at least 10% of the estimated energy consumption for new and retrofitted buildings should come from on-site or community-based renewable energy generation.  Building designs should include passive heating, lighting, and cooling features, and ensure that buildings can be adapted to future sustainable energy and grey water reclamation technologies.  The Plan also specifies that, if a district energy system is built in the area, the municipalities must adopt service area bylaws requiring most buildings to be connectable to the district energy system.