Abbotsford – From Abbotsford City Council: Now that the City’s Abbotsforward 2050 Official Community Plan (OCP) has been approved by Council, various departments are at work incorporating the updates to its policies and directions into their Master Plans.
The OCP provides a blueprint for how our community will grow over the next 25 years. It’s the City’s main planning document that touches on areas such as land use, housing, transportation, economic growth and the environment. It also provides important guidance for the City’s approach to zoning, development permits and infrastructure planning. It’s a wide-ranging plan on which all other plans will be built.
Some key updates included in the new OCP include:
- Providing more flexible Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing options.
- Strengthening policies that guide how we plan for and acquire new parks.
- Adding and updating policies that support arts, culture, heritage, accessibility, climate resilience, and a strong local economy.
- Introducing new “Secondary Transit Corridors” connecting Highstreet and the hospital to the “Primary Transit Corridor,” which runs along South Fraser Way between Clearbrook and McCallum Road, and south to UFV.
- Establishing a new mixed-use centre between the hospital and Mill Lake Park to broaden housing options alongside complementary commercial uses.
- Adding new townhouse and apartment areas near mixed-use centres, south of the City Centre, and along major roads.
- Introducing new requirements for publicly accessible amenities and gathering spaces on larger Neighbourhood Centre development sites.
- Creating new opportunities for incorporating non-market housing options into place of worship sites.
- Introducing a new Gateway Commercial land use that elevates design expectations at city entry points and enables tourist accommodation up to six storeys.
- Establishing new opportunities for commercial truck parking near Fraser Highway.
To read the updated OCP in its entirety, click here.
Because of the impact the OCP has on the future growth and development of Abbotsford, the City held extensive community outreach, seeking feedback from residents, advisory committees, industry groups, external agencies and First Nations.
Over the last two years, the City connected with more than 1,900 people at 23 in-person engagement events, including open houses, pop-up booths, and a world café workshop. Residents also had the opportunity to directly address Council about the proposed updates at a public hearing on Nov. 25, 2025. Online engagement was held using the City’s Let’s Talk Abbotsford page and resulted in more than 650 submitted surveys and 3,000 written comments.
During that time, staff also produced a series of progress reports to Council. This was to keep us informed of OCP developments and to transparently demonstrate to residents how their feedback was being incorporated into OCP policies, with the goal of building trust and confidence in the process.
The City is grateful to everyone who participated and shared their vision of the future of Abbotsford. After all, we couldn’t plan for the future of our community without hearing from the people who call our community home.
