Our OCP Update Committee has released a draft of our new Official Community Plan and in most respects I think that it captures our collective aspirations quite well. The committee working on the Plan spent a lot of time consulting with community groups about what should be included in the update and they included a great deal of that input in this first draft. Of course you can’t have a document written by a committee and containing hundreds of recommendations without it containing at least a few things that somebody like me would find worthy of comment.
The first thing that struck me was the phrase “the term ‘will’ is used to denote that the indicated measure ‘must’ be taken or applied”. Throughout the plan there are statements like “The municipality will require new development to incorporate sustainable design features and green building technology.” Normally it wouldn’t matter that almost nobody reading the Plan has any idea what those features or technologies might be or what they might cost, but this OCP is going to become law and there are far too many things that it proposes “must” be done. This document is supposed to guide our community, not create new laws through vague policy statements.
The next thing I noticed was that there were a number of trivial issues expounded upon as if they were as important as the overarching policies next to them. For example we go from a discussion about development permits for environmentally sensitive areas to Policy SCE 2.3 “Support expansion of the present foredune ecosystem at the mouth of Davies Creek”. Where did that come from? Then we go from monitoring environmental remediation to “The Municipality will give careful consideration to the necessity of additional municipal signage, and its potential impact on the natural environment and its visual intrusion on the landscape of the Island.” Do you get the feeling that somebody is fed up with all of those traffic signs?
The climate change section says “The Municipality will examine the implications of, and potential for, establishing maximum residential dwelling unit sizes to reduce energy consumption.” That one has social engineering zealot written all over it. This section also has longwinded proposals advocating, or at least discussing, reducing the number of ferry sailings to cut down on fuel consumption and requesting that Bowen cars be forced to go to town to get Aircare inspections. Why include things in the Plan that you know the vast majority of people are going to oppose?
Before looking at something serious, here are a few chestnuts that jumped out at me.
- Bowen should develop alternative energy sources. However “development of Bowen’s energy resources beyond local needs should not be permitted unless…” (no, there aren’t any significant energy sources on Bowen but you can’t be too careful)
- Transmission lines should be visually attractive. (I’m glad that they thought of that.)
- “Crown Land should not be used for access” (to private lands). So if you own property that can only be accessed through Crown Land our OCP is telling you to forget it, you can’t get to your land even though provincial legislation allows for the use of Crown land for reasonable access requirements.
- To help with affordability the Municipality will give consideration to “park model homes” which is the new name for mobile homes.
In the Land Use Planning section there is heavy reliance on density trading to change the current development patterns on the island. The idea is that you’ll get to build an extra house in Snug Cove if you promise not to build one beyond Bluewater. This policy has been around for a long time and has never worked so there’s a twist this time. Now the Municipality will reserve the right to take unused density from land subdivided and give that density to a new subdivision. It’s not a bad idea except that the owners of the land already subdivided might not like the it. Let me explain. Let’s say that you have 100 acres of land. The OCP says that you can create lots of five acres each but you create twelve-acre lots instead. Mr Jones buys a lot from you and thinks that one day he will be able to subdivide it again into two lots. But under this new OCP policy the Municipality will be able to claw back that density to give it to a developer in Snug Cove. The concept has merit but somebody should tell Mr. Jones before he buys his lot.
Because this is an update and not a review most of the land use section is largely a rewording of the old Plan incorporating the amendments made since the last Plan was adopted in 1996. At least I’m assuming that to be the case. Because there is no easy way to compare all of the documents it will take quite a bit of study to be sure. In theory there will be a full review of the Plan in a few years, at which time development densities will be reviewed.
The next step in Island planning, after the OCP Update is accepted will be the Snug Cove Implementation Plan which will outline the development of Snug Cove complete with a detailed zoning plan showing lot by lot exactly what types of buildings will be built and when they’re going to be built.
But that is far into the future. The question now is, how long will it take until this OCP Update is adopted?
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