qathet Regional District's (qRD) board will consider directing staff to bring forward cost estimates for a regional growth strategy.
At the January 13 committee of the whole meeting, directors considered a recommendation with cost estimates required to engage with the province, the public, Tla’amin Nation, the regional district’s improvement districts and City of Powell River, for a growth strategy for the entire region.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne, who introduced the recommendation, said with the Catalyst Paper Tis’kwat mill curtailment, changing demographics, skyrocketing land prices and challenges faced as a regional community, there are sometimes problems when the municipality may want to go in one direction and the regional district might want to choose another route.
“We can sometimes end up stepping on each others’ toes, and the same can be said with our friends at the Tla’amin Nation,” said Gisborne. “Talking with colleagues from other jurisdictions, and speaking with representatives from the province over the years, the topic of a regional growth strategy has come up in conversation from time to time. I started looking into it and found that a regional growth strategy is a strategic plan that directs long-term planning for the regional district and municipal official community plans.
“It also provides the basis for decisions about implementing provincial programs in a regional district. It’s designed to work across all boundaries in a very collaborative effort. The resolution I’m putting forward is not stating that we are initiating a regional growth strategy at this time, it is asking for a staff report on the cost estimates that could then be added to our budget.”
Gisborne said it’s a long and very collaborative process. He said it involves the entire community, plus provincial government agents.
“This is a good time, based on what’s happening in our community, to start coming together and coming up with a strategy,” said Gisborne.
City director CaroleAnn Leishman said she supports the recommendation. She said the matter had been previously discussed at a C3 meeting between the regional district, city and Tla’amin.
“There’s probably broad support that it’s time for a regional growth strategy,” said Leishman. “These are led by regional districts so we should definitely have this come back to us with some ideas.”
Electoral Area A director and board chair Patrick Brabazon said he’d like to know if chief administrative officer Al Radke could suggest a timeline for a report, given the current staff workload.
Radke said this would be a function of the planning department, with a staff member going on maternity leave and a temporary planner coming in, so he would hazard to say it would not be available for this budget season.
Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said it might not happen this year but if the motion is cast, it would happen at some point as workloads permit.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said a regional growth strategy is a large task.
“They can be very positive and the regional growth strategies that exist are generally in the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island and the Okanagan. Comox Valley has one. There’s no reason why it can’t be useful for the reasons director Gisborne and others have given. I don’t see any harm looking into it if we have the resources.”
Fall said he didn’t see the matter as urgent.
“As long as we start talking about it, the rationale behind it can start to come around,” he added. “I can support this and look forward to finding out a little bit more about what it will entail.”
The motion for the staff report was carried unanimously.
