Official Community Plan

After many meetings and workshops, public events and written submissions, the City's Imagine our Future process wrapped up with Council's adoption of the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) in the summer of 2010. The ICSP provides a framework that will encourage and support integrated consideration of environmental, social and economic implications when Council makes decisions.

Since the summer, staff have been working to incorporate the ten key priority areas and land use objectives that were identified during the ICSP process, into the City's new Official Community Plan (OCP). The City's new OCP is very unique in that it deals with much more than the traditional land use and zoning issues that are found in an OCP. Together, the ten key priority areas represent the community's vision for an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable community.

The community is now being provided an opportunity to review and provide input to the draft OCP. City staff have already made presentations to a variety of groups in the community and many more presentations are planned for the weeks to come. In addition, staff will be attending a number of high-traffic public areas in order to reach members of the community who might not otherwise particpate in a structured consultation process.

The City of Williams Lake web site has a link to the draft OCP and the community is encouraged to review the document and provide their input.

An OCP is a legislated requirement that helps guide land use and other strategic decisions so that development takes place in a deliberate and sustainable manner. Given the broad scope of this OCP and the high level of public particpation, this plan should assist City Coucnil and the community in making sound, sustainable decisions in the future.