Pre-Approved Building Plans and Designs

Funding provided by the Government of Canada through the Housing Accelerator Fund.

About Pre-Approved Building Plans and Designs

To accelerate housing delivery and reduce approval timelines, the City has partnered with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as a Housing Design Catalogue Local Partner, and as a Housing Accelerator Fund recipient to expedite infill housing projects.

What’s New?

1. Development Permit Exemptions:
   • Form and Character Development Permits are no longer required for:
     • Duplexes, including those with suites
     • Select CMHC pre-approved fourplex designs:
       1. BC Fourplex 01
       2. BC Fourplex 02
2. Pre-Reviewed Building Plans:
   • Pre-Reviewed Building Permits (BPs) are also prepared for select CMHC Housing Catalogue pre-approved designs, including:
     • BC Fourplex 01
     • BC Fourplex 02
3. Infill Housing and Site Standards Guidelines:
   • To support applicants who are planning infill housing projects, such as multiplexes and carriage homes, The Infill Housing and Site Standards Guidelines provides suggested guidelines for:
     • Site layout
     • Servicing
     • Landscaping
     • Parking
     • Built form standards

About the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF)

The City of West Kelowna was awarded up to $7.9 million from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to deliver initiatives that will increase housing supply and create more housing options in our community.

The City and CMHC have agreed to a Housing Supply Growth Target of 1,343 housing units by 2028, which includes 199 single-family units, 814 missing middle units, and 330 multi-unit homes. Additionally, 114 affordable housing units are targeted as a subset within the overall targets. Learn more on our Housing Accelerator Fund page.

The City of West Kelowna’s Action Plan commits to seven local initiatives including, but not limited to new incentives to increase priority housing, fast-tracking standardized housing designs, and zoning updates to encourage more rental, affordable, and missing middle housing. Opportunities to develop affordable housing will be further enabled through a Land Strategy, which will outline a framework for utilizing City land.

The Pre-Approved Building Plans and Designs Program will both help the City to achieve the Housing Supply Growth Target, as well as respond to key initiatives in the Action Plan.