City gets first peek at the seeds of a plan for the future

The much anticipated first draft of the Quality of Life Community plan has been delivered to Prince Rupert City council, and it has made our elected officials sit up and take notice at just how much work is required ahead.

Taken from telephone surveys and invited guest meetings, the plan is the beginning point for a regeneration of not only the city’s look, but its way of conducting business.

The key points, examine the future of the city and the division of zones for development both industrial and residential, appeared in Friday’s edition of the Daily News.

Citizens were urged to download their own copy of the draft plan from the City’s website in order to prepare for upcoming public meetings, though it would appear that no noticeable link to the article is posted on the site yet.

Some of the key points, including those that involve examining the future of the city and the division of zones for development both industrial and residential, appeared in Friday’s edition of the Daily News.

CITY'S BLUEPRINT FOR FUTURE GROWTH STARTS TO SHAPE UP
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, May 11, 2007
Page one

The first look at the city's draft of the new Quality of Life Community Plan this week left council wide eyed at the amount of detailed planning that still needs to be done.

"What strikes me is the plan is not an end but really a beginning place ... all kinds of work begins to jump off the page," said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

Tom Becker of UMA Engineering presented a draft version of the plan that lays out the community's broad vision for the future of the city on Monday night.

It was assembled by UMA and Jennifer Wilson Consultants following a telephone survey and some 20 public meetings earlier this year.

The community as a whole defined a series of attributes local people deemed important for quality of life -good and clean water; clean air; safe environment; a healthy economy; good social services and recreation.

The plan, said Becker, blends the community's vision with the reality of Kaien Island geography and the economics of the Northwest.

"It really blends the social components ... what the community perceives to be important for quality of life as well as the physical elements we traditionally deal with as components of a community plan and the economic forces," said Becker.

"I know Prince Rupert has had its challenges over the years but I think Prince Rupert is going through a period of significant regeneration and economic opportunities and those can be manifested in the plan."

The document includes more than 70 policies in areas including arts and culture, heritage, environmental protection, playgrounds, parks, residential development, transportation, and infrastructure.

It also defines future areas for both commercial, industrial and residential development.
The plan paints the city into four general zones - parks and open space, business/commercial (with a provision for some residential mixed in), business industrial, and residential.

However, it also recommends implementing development permit areas where council would have more control over what gets built and where. For each of the 70 policies, there are action plans and defined measurements, so the city can track its success.

"This document, although it paints broad strokes, is a permissive document. It gives newcomers or anyone who wants to develop in our community an idea of what we would look at, not what we would accept, but what we would look at," said Coun. Tony Briglio.

"Just looking at this presentation, there is all kind of work that jumps of from this - a downtown waterfront plan is one, a downtown development permit area plan, completely reviewing all of our zoning bylaws to see if they align with the policies we chose to embrace or not. This sets some marching orders for staff and others to go out and do some work," said Pond.

Open houses and community presentations are now being planned for the draft document. People are encouraged to download a copy of the plan off the city's web site or look for it at public gathering areas in order to decide if they like the vision for the future.

"This is an opportunity for council and the community to chew on this and then we will come back and have some more discussion," said Pond.