Stock photo courtesy of the City of Vernon

By Liam Verster

47.9% Growth by 2046

Vernon’s Mayor not surprised by projected population growth

Feb 14, 2024 | 11:14 AM

A report showing Vernon’s population will rise by 47.9 per cent over the next two decades did not come as a surprise to the mayor.

The Sustaining Growth:Population and Demography for B.C. and Canada report by B.C. Stats estimated that Vernon’s Population would increase from 45,552 in 2023 to 67,356 in 2046, but Mayor Victor Cumming said that projected growth is similar to what the city has seen in recent years.

“Since 2016 the bowl area, that includes Coldstream and [Vernon], we’re already growing at 1,000 people a year,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“So that’s consistent growth for us. All our land planning to date has been connected to that level of growth.”

The mayor noted that between 2011 and 2016 the population growth was about half that rate, but has been steady at the current level ever since, allowing the city to prepare for an increasing population.

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“We have an Official Community Plan review process starting this year, as well as a Transportation Master Plan review, and both of those will make sure that there is room to manage that level of growth,” Cumming said.

“We have plans already in place in terms of our zoning that would easily absorb that rate of growth.”

The mayor noted among the plans for accommodating future growth are transportation improvements such as widening a part of Alexis Park Drive, building new roundabouts, and upgrading sidewalks and active transportation networks; building the Active Living Centre to provide recreation services for the current and growing population; improving the water intake capacity; and building more multi-family housing.

“If we’re going to continue with our Smart Growth Principles, which we embraced in 2008 in our Official Community Plan, we are adding density, and we are adding Vernon-style density where if there was a small home on a large lot you’ll now see a side-by-side duplex with two suites in it. So we’ve gone from a single home to four homes on a single site,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“That’s the type of density you’ll see, row housing in areas which formerly had a single house on it, or two houses on it. That’s where you’ll see density increasing by three or four times what we have right now. That’s Vernon density.”