Prince George city council rescinded second reading of the revised Official Community Plan at its Wednesday, Sept. 3 meeting and passed second reading of a new draft, paving the way for public hearing on the new version on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m.
All local governments in British Columbia — which includes both municipalities and regional districts — are required by the provincial government to update their Official Community Plans by the end of 2025 and again by the end of 2026.
Earlier this year, a public hearing on the OCP was held on March 19 and April 9. Those who attended the hearing raised issues like a need for greater protection for green spaces like Ginter’s Green and a lack of communication for developers over the impacts the new OCP would have on their properties.
After the hearing dates, council asked administration to prepare a report on the potential consequences of potential changes to the draft OCP they were interested in making.
Administration returned with a 39-page report on those consequences at the Monday, July 14 council meeting when the issue received more than three hours of discussion.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, administration provided a new draft of the OCP that incorporates some of the changes that were proposed during the process.
Because of the changes, administration requested that second reading of the previous draft of the OCP be rescinded and second reading of the new draft be passed.
Then, administration requested that a new public hearing be scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. in council chambers at city hall.
Here are some of the changes in the new version of the plan.
As was previously discussed by council, the new draft replaced references in the document to Prince George being a winter city to instead being a year-round destination.
Instead of saying that “climate change mitigation measures reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the plan’s objectives section now says that “climate change adaptation and mitigation measure minimizes negative climate-related impacts on human safety, health and well being.”
A later section specifically focusing on climate action and resilience has been modified to emphasize the need not just for climate change mitigation, but adaptation.
Under the growth management section, a line about infrastructure in future development areas being fully funded by developers now says “must” instead of “shall.”
In the same section, an area focusing on support for agricultural initiatives for the local food system has been expanded to include nine new policies supporting things like eliminating barriers to sustainable food systems, public transportation to grocery stores and farmers’ markets, community gardens and kitchens and research into local food production.
Reference to food security has also been added to the section of the plan focusing on social health and wellbeing.
In the natural environment section, a policy about discouraging planting of fruit-bearing trees and vegetation has been clarified with the addition of “where there is no intent to harvest.”
The wording of some policies in the economic development section have been modified to emphasize the need to not just create, but retain jobs, as well as support the development of a local workforce that meets both near-term demands and future jobs for emerging sectors.
The section on future land use plans had a section on parks and open space tweaked slightly to encourage the create of new parks and open spaces not just in growth priority areas, but underserved ones as well.
During the hearing dates earlier this year, representatives from the Prince George Airport Authority expressed concern that much of the language from the 2011 version of the OCP recognizing its authority in land-use decisions around the airport had been removed.
The list of land-use policies about the airport has been greatly expanded from the initial draft, stressing the partnership between the PGAA and the city, acknowledging the PGAA’s role in land-use decisions and confining airport- and aircraft-related land uses to the areas around the airport itself.
In the section that lays out how the city will measure the success of the OCP, the document has been changed to use vital statistics information from the BC Government in assessing housing options and business diversification snapshots from Statistics Canada when assessing investments in infrastructure.
Despite a lot of discussion around the Urban Containment Boundary earlier this year, it does not appear to have changed between the initial draft and the new draft presented on Sept. 3.
Council voted unanimously to rescind second reading of the original OCP draft, to amend the draft with the changes proposed by administration and to pass second reading of the new version of the OCP.
In discussing the public hearing timing, Coun. Cori Ramsay said that in conversations with the public, not many people knew that the OCP had to be updated again by 2028. She asked whether there could be a social media campaign to let the public know that the matter will be coming up again soon and not in 10 years as some people believe.
Coun. Tim Bennett asked whether the public hearing could start earlier to maximize the time available.
Manager of legislative services Ethan Anderson said that the city’s procedures bylaw sets a 7 p.m. start time as the default for public hearings but that other times could be chosen. However, he said that he believed it shouldn’t be moved up before 6 p.m. as that could limit participation from some people.
Mayor Simon Yu said he wanted the public to know that the OCP is a living document and it will be changed over time regardless of when the large revisions are.
Bennett’s motion to advance the start time to 6 p.m. passed.
