A special Open House is taking place today (September 11) at Williams Lake City Hall.
Manager of Economic Development Beth VeenKamp said from 3 pm to 7 pm residents will have the opportunity to come in and meet with members of council and Development Services team to talk about the Draft Official Community Plan (OCP).
Veenkamp said they are looking to hear from as many people as possible because the City wants really good community engagement for this project.
“An Official Community Plan is the largest umbrella guiding document that a municipality will have.
It’s a “blue sky” picture of how we would like to see the community by 2050. It has a lot of elements that seem really big and perhaps hard to achieve but we are looking at it through the lens of a 25-year roll out, so we’re trying to create as much of a vision for our community as possible through this process.”
Veenkamp noted that this is a very important document for the City.
“It’s meant to be A-Political so it’s not necessarily a council strategic plan because this Official Community Plan is going to span several councils. It’s very much the community’s guiding document for the City. The City of Williams Lake has not updated it’s OCP since 2011 and it’s really important that we dig in, do the work, and start dreaming about what the next 25-years are going to look like.”
Veenkamp added that they have a community wide survey that’s available online on the City of Williams Lake website.
“It’s really important to notice that this isn’t just a plan that’s going be for the ten thousand or so residents of Williams Lake. We’re interested if you live in the Cariboo Regional District what your thoughts are as well because of course you use Williams Lake as your community hub. So we’re seeking to have everybody spend a little bit of time, sit down, go through the survey, have a look at the plan and send us in their feedback.”
The new Official Community Plan is streamlined with clear policies, modern housing guides, updated land use designations and zoning that encourages development.
It also includes targets for greenhouse gas reductions and new tools to keep the community safe.
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