Campbell River has begun the year-long process to update its document covering all things land use, planning and development.
City council endorsed a review of the official community plan on Tuesday. The last time the OCP was updated was 11 years ago.
Coun. Ron Kerr says it’s important the advisory team doesn’t get hijacked by special interest groups.
“On the last one we had a staff member that had a vision and that’s part of the reason why we ended up with a document that was this big with a lot of pretty pictures and a lot of fluff and a lot of stuff that didn’t help,” Kerr said.
The concern about hijacking by special interest groups was echoed by other councillors.
Coun. Sean Smyth looks forward to a “simple and sweet” plan and not a source of frustration.
“Keep it simple and sweet, short and simple. I recognize that’s often harder to do than to have a big document. However, there’s an old saying. When you’re building a new house, don’t focus on what you want in the new house as much as, remember what you liked about the old house. So there are parts of the OCP that did work, right? We don’t want to throw that out,” Smyth said.
The city will hire a consultant soon, estimated to cost $270,000, to lead the review and the new plan should be adopted by December 2024.
The review has a budget of $350,000.
Mayor Kermit Dahl noted the consultant should be someone with local knowledge so the city doesn’t end up with problems like the problematic Dogwood Corridor Study.
“I don’t want another consultant bringing a report like the Dogwood Corridor (Study), that ah, just because there’s a report made means that we’re doing things that are not aligned at all with this council.”
