Process for Gabriola OCP is ‘paving the way for other LTCs’

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

The first phase of engagement for Gabriola’s official community plan and land use bylaw review includes a component never attempted in the Islands Trust Area before, according to staff.

The in-progress visioning process, the end result of which will be the development of a values and vision document to guide next year’s OCP review, includes a survey as well as an experimental group feedback process. Formal and informal groups were invited to submit applications to deliver feedback on three different themes: ecosystem restoration, preservation and protection; sustainable, inclusive and resilient communities; and sustainable stewardship of lands and waters. Fourteen groups in the Gabriola Local Trust Area will receive honoraria ranging from $50 to $500 to host engagement events over the winter.

“Staff are feeling pretty confident about the process, just seeing the calibre of applications that we got, and the kind of enthusiasm that’s out there,” Narissa Chadwick, project planner for the OCP review, said at the Nov. 30 Gabriola Local Trust Committee meeting. “Gabriola is paving the way for other LTCs.”

The word group was intentionally chosen to encompass both formal ones like non-profits and associations as well as informal such as neighbours and families “to encourage a broad representation of residents and interests,” staff told the Sounder.

Gabriola Trustee Tobi Elliott said the engagement process is responding to recommendations from the advisory planning commission “to determine an approach that Gabriolans would be excited about.”

The aim is to be “responsive to how community members want to gather and talk and share their visions, and so it isn’t … sort of a narrower demographic that maybe has the time and ability to answer the questions that we’re asking.”

Staff will also be organizing sessions to gather feedback from demographics that typically don’t tend to take part in commonly used government engagement strategies such as open houses, including young families, children and seniors.

Gabriola Trustee Susan Yates is “hopeful and excited” that the work in service to an OCP review “may well provide a new template for other Local Trust Area OCP work.” Yates pointed to what she sees as several areas of improvement in the approach to the review process so far: gathering community input before the review officially begins, communication with Snuneymuxw First Nation accompanied by financial assistance if needed for their participation ($4,000 has been budgeted for First Nations engagement), the group feedback process, as well as “a rigorous business plan process” that will go to Trust Council for approval for the review.

Islands Trust staff are also working directly with staff for Snuneymuxw First Nation to determine a process for members of the Nation to provide “input when it’s appropriate and on topics they want to give their feedback,” Elliott said. “We’re going to keep working on the government to government relationship building through that process … and that is a sort of wider process as we’re learning how to fit in with the Nation’s priorities.”

Land use elements identified through the visioning process will become priorities for the OCP review, according to Islands Trust.

The survey for individuals to share priorities is open until Feb. 1. A postcard with a QR code for the survey was delivered via the print edition of the December 13 Sounder.

The link along is also available on the Islands Trust website, https://islandstrust.bc.ca/island-planning/gabriola/projects/gabriola-visioning-2050/.

A community meeting is tentatively scheduled for April to share the results of the engagement and staff said other ways for residents and groups to provide feedback will also be announced.