Official Community Plan Update

In the OCP survey the City conducted in February and March, there was a very  strong view expressed by the participants that city services like water, roads, and sewers were both important and urgent matters for the City, especially in comparison to other municipal services. Due to past economic challenges, the annual investment into these services has not been sufficient to undertake the replacement of infrastructure that has been required. As a result, there is a considerable gap between the finances needed for replacement of critical infrastructure and the funding that is available.

Working on underground infrastructure (water and sewer pipes) has impact on road work. It is more cost effective to undertake underground work before replacing road surfaces. Given the need to proactively address local infrastructure, the issue of infrastructure replacement is an area that is recommended for OCP policy that will direct municipal investments for the next decade or more.  Please advise your level of agreement to the following statements.

In 2008 the Province of British Columbia passed Bill 27, the Local Government (Green Communities) Statutes Amendment Act, which established that Official Community Plans must include targets and actions for the reduction of   Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities   (FCM) has estimated that approximately 50% of GHG emissions can be influenced by decisions made by municipal governments. 

In 2015, Canada ratified the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement is expected to strengthen the effort to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. The agreement also aims to foster climate resilience and lower greenhouse gas development.

Canada ratified its long-term low greenhouse gas development strategy  to meet its obligations under the Paris agreement. This includes a net reduction of 80% of 2005 levels by 2050, which is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s temperature targets. This strategy notes that the International Energy Agency estimated that up to 38% of GHG reductions could be met though energy efficiency improvements. 

In setting GHG emissions targets, the City can set specific targets grounded in a recent Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) or establish an aspirational target. As an alternative to setting multi-year targets in this OCP, it is proposed that the City chooses an aspirational target consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement and then have a Community Energy and Emissions Plan update prepared to guide the City towards this target.

The following policy options could guide the City of Prince Rupert in its actions to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with these policy options:

The role and importance of local food production in Prince Rupert may not be immediately evident given the lack of land suitable for traditional agriculture. The City does not have a history of agriculture. However, local food has been an important part of the history of this place. Local First Nations still harvest marine and terrestrial foods. The waters around the community have provided food for the Tsimshian people since time immemorial, and continue to support food gathering from both indigenous and non-indigenous residents and visitors.  

Prince Rupert’s urban past was built on the boom of the commercial fishing and canning industry in the early twentieth century. While the commercial fishing industry has declined, there is still potential and interest in this industry. For example, the Coastal Shellfish company has recently developed a scallop farm using modern technology and aquaculture best practices with the traditional knowledge of the Coast Tsimshian people. 

Interest in local food systems have grown over the past few decades for a number of reasons including food security, community resiliency, climate change, and sustainable development concerns. The Province of British Columbia now recommends that local governments consider food production and food security in their plans.

There are numerous goals that local governments can pursue using local food production initiatives. The most obvious is community food security. Having a strong local food system, including urban agriculture is seen as a key strategy in fostering local food security. The food production opportunities for a community to support and encourage are influenced by local conditions and should be tailored accordingly. For example, Prince Rupert does not have great potential for grain production because of the lack of local arable lands. However, there is opportunity for some urban agriculture and marine based foods. 

The City of Prince Rupert could consider a number of policy options regarding local food production. Please indicate your agreement or disagreement with each of the following possible policies.

The strength and vitality of a community is not just dependent on having good roads, sewers and water services, or just a healthy environment, or just a strong economy, or just recreational services. It is also dependent on the community’s diverse social and cultural needs being addressed. This includes social services to help residents, cultural services to enrich resident’s lives, social events, celebrations, and festivals to develop and maintain a positive community experience and satisfaction with the community.

The social and economic well being of a community are mutually interdependent. For example, to grow businesses, new workers must be recruited to live in Prince Rupert. New workers and their families will assess the City’s social services to determine if they meet their needs. An example of this would be childcare. If a new family needs childcare while the parents are working and if there is no childcare available, that prospective worker and his family may forego an employment opportunity.

Similar to childcare, the availability of other social and cultural services (including health care, education, and public safety) may impact a prospective new worker’s decision to move to and stay in Prince Rupert. These services are also important supports for existing residents and the diverse needs they have. In addition to social services being an attractor for new workers and residents, they also contribute to the local economy. It is estimated that the social service sector in Prince Rupert contributes over $50 million annually into the local economy.

While cities are not typically providers of social services, they can play an important role in ensuring they are provided. In recognition of the need for the demand for social services to be in balance with supply, the City could assess and monitor significant social and cultural service gaps and work to close those gaps working with industry and other government and non-government organizations. To achieve this, the following are potential policy options. Please indicate your agreement or disagreement with each option: 

Following a year long process in collaboration with various organizations, non-profits, community members and industry, at the end of 2019 we unveiled the new Prince Rupert 2030 Vision document.

Moving forward from that process, the next step is to now update the Official Community Plan (OCP) over the next year to help enable that vision to come to life, and to ensure that it also reflects the views and values of the residents in Prince Rupert.

This means we would like to engage as many people as possible to gather feedback. To begin, we would like you to participate in a community survey which will help guide and inform us in updating our OCP this year.

The OCP is an important bylaw that describes the long-term vision of community development in Prince Rupert. It includes objectives and policies that guide decisions on planning and land use management as well as defining social, economic and environmental policies.

Our current OCP was adopted in 2007 and is now 13 years old. A lot has changed since the current plan was adopted. We are now home to the fastest growing port in North America, but we know we have a long way to go in terms of moving our whole community forward. Renewing the OCP will allow us to reimagine ourselves and our land use rules within this new context, and set our priorities for the years ahead.

The unveiling of the Prince Rupert 2030 vision strategy concluded a significant and collaborative effort to develop a vision for how Prince Rupert would respond to, manage and benefit from the impending growth expected for our port. Port growth is expected to see a four-fold increase in overall trade capacity and could result in a significant increase in population over the next ten years. To address land use needs not only of the present, but the future, it’s time for us to plan ahead. This survey is the next step in revising the OCP and will bring more of the community in on the 2030 Vision process. It will provide you with the opportunity for you to share your views on aspects of the existing OCP as well as how we can best incorporate/adapt the 2030 Vision document into our OCP.

We are hoping for a strong response to this survey and we will invite ten randomly selected survey respondents to a lunch meeting with me to discuss your views of the future of Prince Rupert in more detail. Because your participation in this process is so important to us we will also be giving away five $100 gift cards to randomly selected survey respondents as an added incentive for your participation.

Please be assured that your survey responses will be kept completely anonymous.

We look forward to hearing from you and engaging with you this year.

Sincerely,

Mayor Lee Brain

If you want to review the current OCP or The 2030 Vision document before you start the survey you can access them by clicking on the following links or heading to www.princerupert.ca. 

2030 Vision Document Presentation Boards