City of Powell River planning staff will be looking for direction for preparation of a new sustainable official community plan (SOCP).
At the September 14 city council meeting, manager of planning services Daniella Fergusson said she was appearing before councillors to provide an update on what is happening with the comprehensive plan.
She said city staff members are working on it and she wanted to recognize new planning staff member Hugo Wu, who had written a report for council.
“The short version is you can expect a report from us in the next month or so seeking an official request to get going with this project, to receive a communications and engagement plan,” said Fergusson.
She added that it is anticipated to be a two-year project, with the public kickoff during the second quarter of next year.
“The reason for the delay for the public kickoff is we need to do background work and get a website up, hire some technical consultants to do a demographic population projection, and things like that, so we are ready to go live,” said Fergusson.
She said the city’s zoning bylaw would also be worked on in sequence with the official community plan update.
According to Fergusson, after the first phase, which is research and analysis, from fall 2023 to spring 2024, the second phase, for the spring and summer of 2024, will feature vision, goals and principles. The third phase, from fall 2024 to spring 2025, will be policy options and directions. Drafting the plan will be the fourth phase, from spring to fall 2025. Statutory approvals are scheduled for winter 2025.
Councillor George Doubt said the most important part of the report is the timeline, with the different phases of reviewing the official community plan.
“It’s a long-term project,” said Doubt. “We’re not changing the plan in a couple of weeks or a couple of months. It will be a thorough, deep-looking process that looks into the future, something like 10 years into the future. It’s going to take a couple of years.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said since the last official community plan in 2014, the city has created some wonderful plans, such as cycling, parks and trails, et cetera. He asked if part of the vision is to connect all the plans in a way similar to what Nanaimo has done with its city plan.
“It’s a monumental document but it’s pretty easy to understand,” said Southcott. “Have you got that high level of a vision?”
Fergusson said common practice is to refer to recommendations of those reports and where they are appliable at the official community plan level, incorporating them that way. That avoids making a mega-document of all the different reports.
“What Nanaimo has done is great but we’re at a different level of capacity here,” said Fergusson. “The gist of it is we will look at the recommendations that council has adopted since the last official community plan and see which apply to the plan or the zoning bylaw.”
According to the staff report, the SOCP is a blueprint for decision-making and the primary legislative tool that exists to guide and manage current and future growth.
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