Share your voice on the draft OCP!

Final Draft of the 2025 OCP Update

Click here to download the second draft (published August 14, 2025)

What will the city's growth look like under the proposed OCP?

Nelsonites can expect the look and feel of new development in most areas of the city to remain consistent with recent development build-out and housing types and form.

In the small-scale residential areas where most Nelsonites live, no major changes are proposed. Most housing development will not stand out, as it will consist of small-scale infill housing such as suites, laneway homes, and duplexes/triplexes/fourplexes. The fact that fourplexes have been permitted since 2024 is due to provincial legislation and is not related to the new OCP. The draft OCP does not consider increasing density in the R1 zone. In some areas of the city, the draft OCP opens the door to the possibility of, on average, one to two more storeys than permitted by zoning.

All large housing developments can be accommodated outside of the small-scale residential land use designation (R1 zone). Compared to the current OCP, the most significant changes proposed are taller multi-unit/mixed-use developments on institutional lands, most notably at the Tenth Street Campus. That site is where Nelsonites can expect the most development. In addition to the Selkirk lands, multi-unit development will be concentrated on the golf course lands, downtown, the waterfront, and Railtown, as already projected in the 2013 OCP. The Kiwanis site also has significant potential. Other projects could also occur on other lands already zoned commercial or mixed-use, such as along Anderson Avenue.

See the 2025 OCP Housing Growth Map

Ample land is available and, for the most part, zoned for housing expansion to accommodate current and future Nelsonites. Small “Neighbourhood Nodes”, with neighbourhood-serving commercial capped at four storeys, are envisioned in a handful of areas in the city around where similar commercial uses already exist. There are not precise boundaries; no formal land use designation changes are being proposed. It is anticipated that these nodes will be developed gradually through site-specific rezonings, if property owners see an opportunity to develop mixed-use. Designating a site for “neighbourhood mixed-use" as part of a neighbourhood node would require an amendment to the OCP Land Use Designation map as well as a public hearing.

What happens now?

Council is scheduled to receive and give initial consideration to the latest draft at its August meeting. This vote is called first and second reading. If passed, the next step is a public hearing. This will be the community’s final opportunity to speak to the updated OCP before Council considers final adoption.

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Background

OCP Update Overview

The Official Community Plan (OCP) is Nelson's compass for growth and change. It guides the decisions we make today on how we design our neighbourhoods, the ways we move around, how we use our land, and the amenities the City provides to get us to our collective vision for the future.

Nelson's current OCP was adopted in 2013 and it is receiving a holistic update for the first time in over 11 years. The OCP Update will ensure that the OCP policies reflect the current collective vision for Nelson in 2050, that outdated or completed policies are removed, and that today's issues and best practice are considered.

OCP Update Timeline

Phase
One

Phase
Two

Phase
Three

Phase
Four

Phase
Five

Phase One: Project Scoping commenced in Spring 2023. This phase involved scoping the project’s deliverables, identifying required resources and drafting some high level intentions such as a project engagement strategy and the Three Guiding Principles framework. Phase One also asked the public to submit applications to be on the OCP Advisory Committee.

During Phase Two: Visioning, the OCP Update team conducted public engagement to develop a collective vision statement. Feedback from engagement was analysed for themes and the themes were consolidated into Four Foundational Values. The Four Foundational Values were combined with the Three Guiding Principles to craft a vision for Nelson in 2050. Read more in the Phase Two What We Heard & Crafted Report.

The Nelson 2050 Vision is being implemented in Phase Three: Policy Review & Development as the project team evaluates the current OCP policies. Public engagement (in the form of surveys, open houses, and in-person and online workshops for the public) was held from May to July 2024.

City staff hard to bring all the pieces together in Phase Four to create a first draft of the updated OCP for public review, released on January 22nd, 2025.

Following Phase Five community engagement in winter 2025, dozens of changes to the first draft were proposed and approved by Council in May 2025, leading to a second draft that will be considered by Council in August.

OCP Update Process

Updating the Official Community Plan entails:

Completing technical analysis and studies
Adapting the 2013 OCP to today's context, priorities, needs, and legislative requirements
Ensuring policy alignment with the new vision, values, principles, and policy objectives, as well as with our existing plans and strategies
Reviewing and adapting best practice (successful ideas borrowed from other cities)
Making the OCP as readable, clear, and concise as possible
Identifying the community's aspirations and diverse needs and ensuring that the updated OCP reflects what the community wants Nelson to become
Providing public feedback opportunities to ensure that we are leading the way to 2050 together

The Nelson 2050 Vision

The OCP Update's Nelson 2050 Vision

Our welcoming, heritage-rich mountain town is committed to community well-being by prioritizing equity, health and climate resilience. All Nelsonites are able to find affordable housing, live in walkable neighbourhoods, access efficient cost-effective transit, and meaningfully participate in public life. Our collective choices make us climate leaders, safeguarding and regenerating our ecological, economic and social systems for future generations. Art, education, diverse cultures, reconciliation and recreation enrich our daily lives, infusing our community with an active, healthy and creative spirit that respects and appreciates the land we call home.

The Nelson 2050 Vision was crafted by using the process illustrated below. The Four Foundational Values (representing public feedback) and the Three Guiding Principles (representing best practice) were combined.

Diagram 2050 Vision Crafting - OCP Update (6).png

The 2023 What We Heard & Crafted Report details the themes heard from the public through the visioning engagement phase and how they were consolidated into the values. For more details on what each Foundational Value represents, read the expanded vision in the Snapshot section of the report.

The Four Foundational Values

Public Engagement Results
What We Heard Reports

Summer 2023 - Read the Phase Two report to learn about the processes used to collect public feedback, analyze the feedback heard, and craft the vision statement.

Download the 2023 report PDF

Summer 2024 - Read the Phase Three What We Heard Report to learn about the engagement that took place and the feedback we heard from you.

Download the 2024 report PDF

Winter 2025 - Read the final What We Heard Report to learn about the engagement on the first draft of the OCP update.*

Download the 2025 report PDF

* The final round of engagement followed the release of the first draft in January 2025. All of the materials (including handout summaries and a video) and the online discussion forum can still be accessed on the public engagement portal here. The resulting list of changes can be consulted by clicking here.

OCP Update Advisory Committee

Committee Members

The committee consists of 12 members of the public and 3 members of City Council. The Committee was used as a sounding board to ensure the processes used to update the OCP and engage the public are robust. It met 13 times between June 2023 and March 2025, in addition to several email exchanges. The Committee's primary purpose was to provide guidance, recommendations, and perspective on the OCP update process and to ensure that the OCP is innovative, inclusive, and tailored to the community's needs. Members were also tasked as community ambassadors of the OCP update process. Meetings included updates on the process, capacity and knowledge building, and discussion on values and policies.

In April 2025, the OCP Advisory Committee, following its two-year involvement, voted unanimously in favour of adoption of the draft OCP.

Resources

The current year-2013 City of Nelson Official Community Plan can be read by clicking here.

1-Pager Series

The 1-Pager series explores concepts relevant to the OCP. Share them with your networks and get discussing what considerations you think are needed.

Videos

Infill housing optimizes land use, promotes housing affordability, supports sustainability, and creates vibrant, walkable neighborhoods by redeveloping existing urban areas instead of expanding outward. Nelson is a small-community leader for infill housing ¹ and the Official Community Plan Update will ensure that the OCP policies are sufficient to guide the development of infill housing and achieve our collective vision of Nelson in 2050.

1-Pager Infill Housing - OCP Update City of Nelson 20230928 (1)_Page_1.jpg

As the service, employment, and shopping hub of the region, most people who live within a 15min to 1hr drive come into Nelson on a regular, often daily, basis. The more regional growth we can accommodate within the city limits, means there are more opportunities for commutes and errands to be accomplished by foot, bike, and transit. The more people who work in Nelson, but live out-of-town, then the more likely it is that they will be entirely car-dependent increasing Nelson’s traffic and parking demand. The Official Community Plan provides policies for a transportation network that is safe, sustainable, efficient, accessible, and aligned with the community's values.

By 2050, projections from the forthcoming 2024 Housing Needs Report say we can expect 4,020 more Nelsonites (an increase of 35% from our 2023 population) and 2,125 more households (a 42% increase from 2023). The Official Community Plan Update presents the opportunity to think about how we can minimize the inconveniences of growth and maximize the benefits for Nelsonites. We need to ensure that housing options are accessible to all by meet people’s budgets, provide the appropriate number of bedrooms, and ensure that the housing is safe and in good condition. While at the same time, thinking about the environment and our community’s capacity to service a growing population.

Nelson’s Official Community Plan has addressed climate change since 2008 and our city’s policies have only become more ambitious with the passing years as climate change impacts continue to increase. In 2018, we committed to become a 100% renewable energy community by 2050 as part of the West Kootenay 100% Renewable Energy Working Group. In 2020, Council unanimously approved Nelson Next, our most ambitious and comprehensive climate action plan yet. As we update the OCP we should consider the direction from Nelson Next and decide how its aspirations can be strengthened through OCP incorporation.

Pages from 1-Pager Climate Action - OCP Update (3).jpg

We all value Nelson’s heritage buildings and feel. History shows that taking built heritage for granted is a mistake: without protections and other initiatives, a neighbourhood’s heritage can slowly be eroded as, one by one, buildings are modified without regard for their heritage value, or even demolished or left to decay. Nelsonites have fought hard to ‘uncover’ and protect heritage buildings after years of neglect. Conservation requires a great deal of expertise, devotion, and dialogue with the community in order to establish what we mean by heritage and how far we are willing to go to protect it.

When we think of Nelson and nature, the vast forests and mountains that surround the city probably come to mind first. But that doesn’t mean that our municipal parks and recreation services are any less important: whether it’s playgrounds, indoor facilities like the NDCC, Lakeside Park and its beach, or one of the several neighbourhood parks that allow you to go for a stroll within walking distance of home, it’s important to properly plan for parks and recreation, particularly as our population grows.

Parks Recreation One-Pager Screenshot.PNG

OCP Update FAQ

FAQ

Download the FAQ: version February 9, 2024