Community Planning

Community Planning

Community Planning is a participatory process in which residents, property owners and other agencies and stakeholders develop a vision and objectives for their respective communities.

Official Community Plan

An ‘Official Community Plan’ is a general statement of the broad objectives and policies of the local government respecting the character of existing and proposed land use and service needs in the area covered by the Plan. Parts of an Official Community Plan can be specific to each individual community or can be directed to an overall framework for the wider area under review.

The purpose of an Official Community Plan is to guide future land use decisions by local and provincial governments. An OCP can be adopted on its own or with a set of bylaws in order to implement the OCP. OCP’s themselves can only regulate land use with Development Permit Areas.

Zoning

 If legal controls are required to govern growth or manage activities, a community would have to set up regulatory bylaws.  This is called zoning. Zoning bylaws establish specific frameworks for development, such as permitted uses of land, as well as guidelines to development, such as height restrictions, setbacks from property lines, and appropriate lot sizes for subdivision purposes. A zoning bylaw must be consistent with the policy framework as adopted in an Official Community Plan (OCP). Other regulatory bylaws may include noise bylaws, unsightly premises bylaws and or specific plans for transportation, infrastructure, or park development.

 

The content on this page was last updated November 22 2019 at 9:53 AM

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