The City of Maple Ridge believes it has streamlined development and home construction.
A progress report on Maple Ridge’s Housing Action Plan says moves to streamline development processes, incentivize the construction of more housing options, and engage the community in planning for future growth around transit and other key infrastructure, has helped to modernize housing policy.
Introduced in 2024, the Housing Action: Building Our Community For All strategy sets out goals and actions aimed at getting more homes built, while ensuring growth is aligned with infrastructure, community needs, and long-term livability.
A progress update provided to City Council on March 24 and 31 showed Maple Ridge continues to see strong interest from developers. Staff reported dozens of initiatives have been completed or are in progress that support the delivery of the Housing Action Plan and meet provincial housing targets and federal grant funding requirements.
“As one of the region’s fastest-growing communities, Maple Ridge is taking real action to build a livable community for all,” said Mayor Dan Ruimy. “We’re taking a thoughtful, intentional approach that enables development in the right places – close to transit, the Town Centre and the necessary infrastructure – while protecting livability and natural spaces. We’re also making headway on conditions within municipal control to help get housing built, such as streamlining approvals, making strategic capital investments and building a strong local economy, while continuing to advocate for senior government funding for the infrastructure needed to support growth.”
The City is planning for intentional, data-driven growth—ensuring that housing is developed in areas where infrastructure, services, and amenities can best support it. This includes a strong focus on transit-oriented areas, the Town Centre, and walkable neighbourhoods close to shops, parks, and schools.
“Through our shift to online applications, we’ve cut new home permit review times by about 75 per cent and are processing new home construction permits approvals in 12 weeks or less,” said James Stiver, the director of planning and building. “This is a significant accomplishment as we continue to build a modern development system with clear expectations, strong customer focus, faster turnaround times, and a continued commitment to our high standards and public safety.”
The city is focused on the factors within its control: updated policies, better customer service, modern online tools and more efficient processes.
The city is streamlining development processes by:
• Introducing Velocity, one of BC’s first development concierge services for complex projects that have a community benefit.
• Implementing one of BC’s first municipal Certified Professional Programs, allowing developers to hire certified third parties to ensure compliance and reduce staff time.
• Advancing a comprehensive development services optimization project to modernize and digitize development approval processes.
• Expanding online permit applications and digital plan review tools.
• Processing new home permits in 12 weeks or less.
The city has more than 150 rezoning applications and 450 building permits currently underway, 133 new rental homes built, with nearly 300 additional units approved.
It exceeded the Year One provincial housing target, delivering 751 net new homes, which was 23 per cent above the target of 612.