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REGIONAL GROWTH STRATEGY PROCESS
The pace of change within the North Okanagan requires critical long-term visioning and land use planning based on sustainable principles to ensure that livability is not compromised due to growth throughout the region. This is not an initiative to stop growth, but to direct it over the long term for the benefit of the community as a whole.
Developing a Regional Growth Strategy requires a sound, comprehensive planning process that is inclusive, identifies community issues, defines community objectives, explores alternatives, evaluates the consequences of those alternatives and the inherent trade-offs associated with alternative futures and provides the decision makers with the tools to "do the right thing" for the future of the broader community. The process also has to include a strong focus on how the strategies will be implemented on the ground and how the performance will be monitored and readjusted to reflect the emerging issues and concerns.
The Regional Growth Strategy process has the following main phases:
- Phase I: Building the Foundation - will identify growth issues facing the RDNO and it's member municipalities, as well a identify regional goals and guiding principles;
- Phase II: Planning, Analysis, Evaluation, and Trade-offs - will identify a range of potential growth strategy options, their consequences, and the identification of the preferred growth scenario; and
- Phase III: Drafting the Regional Growth Strategy and Bylaw Process - will develop the preferred option into a draft Regional Growth Strategy.
Given that the success of the Regional Growth Strategy depends on the acceptance of the Strategy by the member municipalities and electoral areas, a concerted effort will be made to ensure that municipal councils and electoral area directors are informed and that their concerns are addressed. A range of participation activities is proposed, including a program for communicating with all groups on a regular basis, large scale facilitated meetings of elected officials, facilitated stakeholder workshops, public surveys, opportunities for individual and group participation, and the establishment of a Communities Advisory Committee and Growth Issues Working Groups, and the formation of the Intergovernmental Advisory. It will be necessary to develop a solid framework to ensure strategies are derived based on a structured process that incorporates goals, objectives, analysis of growth scenario alternatives and an assessment of tradeoffs. All of these critical planning steps are required to develop a robust set of strategic policy options that can become the Regional Growth Strategy. The Regional Growth Strategy process has been designed around key tasks, as summarized in the timeline below:
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