The Official Community Plan (OCP) review will begin with a community survey and workshop on what Gabriolans think about the current OCP plan, context, principles, goals, and a possible vision statement, trustees decided at the Jan. 29 Local Trust Committee (LTC) meeting.

After consultation with other trustees who have been through the OCP review process, Trustee Sheila Malcolmson said it would be best to start with the current OCP, and then compile a list about what issues are important to the community.

Malcolmson thought that community feedback could be used to identify subjects about which the community needs further information. These subjects would be forwarded to Planner Patricia Maloney for a report. Maloney is responsible for guiding the Gabriola OCP review process.

Malcolmson said that once the OCP goals had been confirmed, the community survey will probably outline topic areas for discussion. She said that information can then be taken back to the OCP Volunteer Review Committee (VRC). “(With) all that information - the survey, the workshop, the VRC review on the OCP plans, context, principles, and goals and then … the vision statement … the LTC can come together and work on refining the scope”, she said.

Malcolmson suggested that the community should “come to closure” on the draft OCP before working on the Land Use Bylaws – which outline the procedures through which the OCP is put into effect. She thought that otherwise it might be that bylaws could be created that did not match with the intentions of the OCP.

Malcolmson also suggested a number of adjustments to the timeline for the OCP review including: clarifying at what stage the LTC will review the work done and direct further work to staff and the VRC, and removing climate change from the OCP review, as it is being dealt with through a separate process. Maloney said that the climate change item in the timeline was meant for the VRC so that they could review what was happening around that issue.

Malcolmson said the work on setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets was meant to be separate from the OCP review. She noted that the issue of climate change would be a consideration all the way through the OCP, but said that she would prefer the VRC stay focused on the OCP review, and have the Advisory Planning Commission and island groups that are “up to speed” on climate change to deal with that as a specific issue.

Maloney said that the VRC had asked for the climate change item to be added to the timeline.

Chair Louise Bell noted that there were many issues to cover and asked that the VRC “please participate at the community level (on the climate change issue), but please don’t use one of these crucial nine or eight meetings for that because you won’t get other work done”. She noted that most of the work on climate change is meant to be done by the end of March.