City won’t commit its green plan for inclusion to the Official Community Plan

Prince Rupert is going to get greener, just don’t ask to see the details in black and white just yet. In a rather confusing bit of bafflegab, city council has decided that they will not include in the Official Community Plan, the recommendations from the Green Advisory Task Force regarding greenhouse gas reductions.

Of course, part of the problem is that the green house reduction plan isn’t exactly ready for its debut, as the Sheltair Group was recently hired on to assist with the document, which isn’t expected to be ready for presentation to council until May.

With that unfinished bit of business still to come, the dilemma for city council was summed up by city planner Zeno Krekic, who said “It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we are committing to.”

Council seemed to agree with his view and decided not to incorporate the greenhouse reduction agenda into the Official Community Plan.

The Daily News had two articles on the green plan deliberations, one the front page story detailing council’s dilemma, the other outlining the background information on Sheltair’s contribution to the greening of Prince Rupert.

CITY PROMISES A GREENER FUTURE BUT AVOIDS DETAIL
Official Community Plan will not commit city to meet specific greenhouse targets
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and three

The city has greened up its Official Community Plan, but without having completed a greenhouse energy reduction plan, council has not been able to commit to any specifics.

Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the green advisory committee, advocated council include a specific reference to growth taking place in line with the province’s Climate Action Charter and urged the city to commit to achieving its targets set out in the yet to be assembled green house gas reduction plan (see story below).

However, she only received her fellow council members’ support on the first point.

The city signed the provincial Climate Action Charter last October, committing itself to become carbon neutral by 2012 along with 62 other communities.

While Zeno Krekic, the city’s planner was okay with mentioning the charter in the OCP, he was against including a statement that “development and growth in Prince Rupert is taking place under the charter,” because the provincial document has not been cross-referenced with the city’s bylaws for zoning, subdivision and building codes.
“The charter itself is prescriptive and very general and I am just safeguarding our existing development regulations,” said Krekic.

Thorkelson said the committee has spent hours and hours going over the charter and that there was nothing there that would hinder the city.

“It’s something we have already signed and it is an important document and it needs to be part of our Official Community Plan,” she said.

Council sided with the recommendations of the taskforce and included the statement.

But that was as far as they would go. They would not include recommendations from the taskforce to commit to follow the greenhouse gas reduction plan in Official Community Plan.

The city only recently agreed to hire the Sheltair Group to help with the document and the plan is expected to be presented to council in May.

“It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we committing to,” said Krekic.

Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the greenhouse reduction plan will have no less impact just because it isn’t included in the Official Community Plan.

“We have many, many planning documents that are not part of the Official Community Plan,” said Pond.

“The OCP is a very specific document and just because it is not in there does not mean it does not matter.”

Other changes included a commitment by the city to develop roads with sidewalks on at least one side of the street. The task force had recommended side walks on both sides to ensure pedestrian travel. And the city committed to look at transit to major employment areas outside the city such as to Ridley Island in order to encourage the use of public transit.


Experts help city with its eco goals
Consultants will help prepare a plan to make Rupert carbon-neutral
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and five

The city has agreed to spend $10,000 to retain a Vancouver-based consultant to help it develop a greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Last week, the city’s Green Task Force recommended the Sheltair Group be hired to help the taskforce assemble a community energy plan in accordance with city’s commitment to the province’s Community Action on Energy Efficiency Program.

“The total budge for this is about $30,000, with $10,000 of that coming from the municipality,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

City council signed an agreement with the province to become “carbon neutral” by 2012 during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention last October.

As part of the program, they were eligible for about $20,000 in grant funding from the province.

The taskforce is expected to complete its greenhouse gas reduction plan by early summer.

In the presentation submitted by Sheltair, they outlined six targets for the community including a 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption for existing city buildings and vehicles.

Other targets included achieving an EnerGuide for Houses rating for all new home construction by 2010; achieving a two per cent reduction in energy consumption for all commercial, institutional and industrial buildings by 2010 and a 25 per cent reduction by 202 compared to 2007 levels. And the city will also generate 10 per cent of the community’s energy needs from community-based, clean resources or bioenergy.

In order to do this, the consultants will help the taskforce lay out a greenhouse gas action plan, community energy plan and local air quality action plan.

There was some concern among councilors, however, that the Vancouver based company did not really show a thorough understanding of the community in its proposal.

“When I read through this proposal my only concern was… I wasn’t sure they had really captured our current situation – they state we have a “static or declining population’ and that we have ‘a potential increase in energy use because of port expansion’. I am thinking they don’t really know the current state of where we are and where we are headed. I am sure the Green Task Force will have them revise that,” said Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne.

However, Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the Green Advisory Task Force, said the document simply reflects Statistic Canada data.

“They did a snapshot of the community and we have had a declining population. It just reflects what has happened over the census years,” she said.

One of the challenges for the consultants and taskforce will be how to plan for greenhouse gas reduction with a growing economy.

The Sheltair Group will be the third consulting firm hired by the city for planning purposes in the last year or so. The city hired UMA Engineering and Jennifer Wilson Consulting to complete its Official Community Plan for a cost of about $90,000 and also hired the Boulevard Transportation Group to complete it sparking study for $28,500.

Community plan goes on tour

Those local residents who don’t know much about the draft of what will one day be the Official Community Plan, will have a chance to do their homework over the next few weeks.

Jenifer Wilson, the consultant who has been doing the bulk of the work in presenting the Plan, intends to post copies of the draft around the city from May 25 until June 3.

Locations to view will include the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, Prince Rupert Library and the Lower level of the Rupert Square Shopping mall. Rupertites will have access to a suggestion box at each location so they can provide their thoughts on the direction that the city plans to go towards when it comes to the final draft of the Community Plan.

For those that don’t make it to one of the locations around town for a look see, a simple click of the mouse will bring up a copy of the plan for your study. As the Community Plan has been posted to the city’s website, you can access it by clicking here.

The Daily News featured the city’s community involvement plans as the front page story in Friday’s paper.


RESIDENTS URGED TO HELP SHAPE THE CITY'S FUTURE
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, May 25, 2007
Page one

Following two open houses this week, the consultants working on the city's Official Community Plan will be taking the document out on tour.

Jennifer Wilson, consultant, said the plan will be posted at a number of high traffic locations throughout the community in the coming week so those who haven't had a chance to look at it so far can review the document and provide their suggestions.

The plan will be displayed on eight separate boards addressing the various themes and the recommended policies for council.

"It's another opportunity for the community to have a look at the plan," said Wilson at Wednesday's night meeting at Lax Kxeen Elementary.

The plan will be on display from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri., May 25, to Mon., May 28, at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre in the main concourse and then from Tues., May 29, to Thurs., May 31, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Prince Rupert public library and then until Sun., June 3, during regular hours in the Lower Concourse of the Rupert Square Mall.

There will be a suggestion box provided and suggestions received by June 3 will be considered while the consultants prepare the final draft plan for council. Other comments received after then can also be considered by councillors as part of council's bylaw approval process.

The last Official Community Plan was prepared more than 20 years ago and council last year committed more than $70,000 to updating it.

The draft plan was put together using the results of several hundred telephone surveys and 20 focus groups held last year.

Wilson noted that the survey was important because it allowed the consultants to gather a sample of the community's views, not just those who turn out for public meetings.

At the public meetings this week, people had a chance to hear Tom Becker of UMA Engineering review some of the 70 major policies included in the plan and then form discussion groups to talk about issues such as the waterfront, environment, parks, social issues, and transportation.
Facilitators were brought in from various community groups to help record the discussions.

Some of the suggestions included setting a target date to reinstitute curbside recycling, starting a volunteer credit system where people could build up credits for volunteer efforts and then exchange those for passes to the Civic Centre, and finding an area in the city for additional pleasure boating capacity.

The plan itself also outlines areas on Kaien Island that would be suitable for future industrial development, including more than 200 hectares on the back side of Kaien Island and four potential sites where future subdivisions could be developed.

An entire copy of the draft Official Community Plan is also available on the city's web site.

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.

Thorkelson calls for more public input into Community Plan

Prince Rupert city councilor Joy Thorkelson spoke out for the populace at council this week as she made another attempt at having the city provide for more consultation with its residents over the Official Community Plan.

The councilor said that it was her understanding that were only two public sessions planned for the public to have a look at the revised vision for the city’s future; sessions that require pre registration and an accounting of what you wish to talk about. So in effect you would be limited to input on just one item of interest and not the plan overall.

Thorkelson is of the opinion that councilors may only be hearing the words of their friends and acquaintances, rather than a wide cross section of the population at large. If indeed there are only two meetings planned and they are strictly controlled as to participation, then the concept of full and unfettered access to the process is suffering.

However, it would appear that she was a lone voice at council last week; her calls for her fellow councillors to rise to the challenge of community involvement did not appear to be received with any great enthusiasm.

This is rather unfortunate. For if memory serves correct, during the last election there was a determined effort of all the candidates at the time to be more accountable and accommodating to the public that they served.

Ms. Thorkelson is only reminding them of that long ago portion of the political debate. It might be wise of the remaining members of council to take note of her counsel.

The Tuesday Daily News provided further details on the Official Community Plan and Councillor Thorkelson’s concerns over the process at the moment.

PUBLIC NOT GETTING ENOUGH INPUT INTO THE OCP
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Page one

City councilor Joy Thorkelson made one more impassioned plea to council to add more public meetings to the Official Community Plan (OCP) Review process, with no avail.

Speaking at city council, Thorkelson said that while councillors may know the opinions of their friends and acquaintances, they really haven’t engaged the public.

“There’s only going to be two public sessions, according to the plan we were presented with on how the OCP will happen. I am wondering if we can extend that if there’s public interest,” said Thorkelson. “I have a list of questions that I am very concerned I won’t get answers to, from the way the process is put together.

The city is expecting to receive a draft copy of its vision for the future - the Official Community Plan update – at its next council meeting May 7.

This includes the input collected from the Quality of Life survey done through focus groups and a telephone survey conducted by Jennifer Wilson Consulting, and technical information gathered by UMA Engineering.

Thorkelson noted there are only two public meetings scheduled for after the draft plan is presented and then the final public hearing before the bylaws are adopted.

“My understanding is… there will be two workshops. You have to pre-register for them and you have to state your interest when you get there. You go to a table and you discuss your interest, which means you only get to discuss one item,” said Thorkelson.”… It’s going to be addressing a plan that will have already come to council for us to comment on and I am having a hard time not having heard what anybody in the community thinks about anything.

Administrator Gord Howie said it is entirely up to council how many public input sessions are held as part of the process.

“Those meetings may not even involve the consultant,” said Howie.

He noted the meeting May 7 is not for council to endorse or reject the plan but simply to hear the information. Public meetings will be held several weeks later, after people have had time to review the document. The city can also accept comment during the regular committee of the whole meetings.

“And the public hearing process can be as long as it needs to be for people to make their comments,” said Howie.

However, no one else on council appeared to have an appetite to schedule any additional meetings.

“I really think that we need to engage people in this and that this can be the most exciting thing we will be able to do. Just to take a consultants’ report and throw rocks at it is not the process I envisioned,’ said Thorkelson.

Anxious to make a contribution

The desire of Prince Rupert residents to have more of a say in the Official Community Plan process may finally be close.

Phase one of the consultation process was by invitation only. Controversy surfaced when it was explained that the consultant who conducted the interviews on the prep work for the Official Community Plan, conducted interviews with a select group of citizens. Making for a situation that didn’t sit well with many in the community who felt left out of the initial phase of the process and wondered if the city was getting a complete picture of how its residents really felt.

With that portion of the planning now complete, things move on to phase two, which is supposed to be a more accessible process for the public which wishes to make a contribution. Details of public meetings and consultations are apparently planned for the city’s website.

MORE SET TO GET SAY ON CITY’S PLAN
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

The first stages of the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP) have not been open enough for some people.

So far, information has been guaranteed through invitation only focus groups and a small random telephone survey.

“My residence was one of the telephones that rang (for the Quality of Life surveys),” said Colleen Wiens, who asked city council last week to outline when the OCP process would become open to the public.

“I was not allowed to participate in the survey because my husband was employed by the city.”

“I don’t feel very happy about that.”

Others have expressed concerns that the selection process for focus groups was not representative, raising concerns the document will not reflect the community’s will.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to look at the Official Community Plan, some of us have been really looking forward to having some control over how our life is in Prince Rupert,” said Peggy Davenport, who added for her part she was happy to have taken part in the focus groups.

“Appreciating the fact that an awful lot is not in our control because of what’s going on with the port and there’s a lot of big guys out there with big money who have a lot of power, within our own community, we still need to have some control.

“We appreciate our parks, we appreciate our clean environment, we appreciated the ability to walk when we go into town and do our shopping, to be able to live without a car – these kind of things.”

City Administrator Gord Howie explained that the consultant hired to perform the Quality of Life survey determined employees, and clearly those related to employers, would not be included in the initial fact collecting process.

However, the next step - a series of public meetings that will soon be listed on the city’s revamped website – will be open to everyone.

“The data gathering that’s been done to date wasn’t really the planning part of it, it was the part that says who is Prince Rupert, what do they value and what needs to be done right,” said Mayor Herb Pond.

“The planning part is the part that now comes, and it becomes a much more public process that says where are we going to have parks, and how many of them are we going to have,” he said.

”It’s not like this is raw land with no plan, we already know the downtown core is the downtown core, the waterfront is the waterfront, we know which areas are currently parks, so we can work with those.