A new Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) Advisory Committee, approved by a Sechelt council committee April 26, will soon be struck with 14 community members representing diverse groups.
The advisory committee, comprised of neighbourhood and business associations, secondary school students, shíshálh First Nation and other local interest groups, will help Sechelt’s consultant, Dillon Consulting Ltd., develop an integrated community sustainability plan, said Sechelt municipal planner Angela Letman.
A draft plan, budgeted for in 2017, will build on existing public documents such as the Official Community Plan (OCP), sustainability plan and regional sustainability plan, she told Sechelt council’s planning and community development committee.
Letman said she expects the plan and extensive community consultation process to take about a year. The committee will disband once the District of Sechelt adopts the plan.
Once the ICSP is completed, its recommendations can be integrated into the OCP and all other applicable polices and bylaws, she wrote in her report.
“This will help staff and council look at new development by making changes to the OCP,” she told the council committee.
A working advisory committee was needed to allow community members with a particular interest or knowledge about Sechelt’s sustainability issues and goals to provide more in-depth input, Letman said.
“An ICSP encourages a community to take a fresh look at their future, finding ways to become more sustainable,” she said in her report. “With an ICSP, Sechelt can envision, plan and implement actions to secure its long-term well-being.”
Coun. Noel Muller requested that the committee’s terms of reference include a review and understanding of the OCP.
All meetings will be open to the public, Letman said. Each member or seat will have one vote and it is hoped, she added, that the advisory committee will apply decision-making by consensus.
Coun. Darnelda Siegers recommended that the Sunshine Coast seniors’ planning table and the Sunshine Coast housing committee be represented, which the council committee approved.
Membership in the ICSP advisory committee, as recommended in Letman’s report and approved by the council committee, includes the above two groups and one rep from each of the following: Sechelt Downtown Business Association; Sechelt Chamber of Commerce; Sechelt Accessibility Advisory Committee; Sechelt Advisory Planning Commission; the neighbourhood associations in Sandy Hook, Tuwanek, East Porpoise Bay, Selma Park-Davis Bay-Wilson Creek, West Sechelt; and shíshálh First Nation. Chatelech Secondary School will have two student representatives.
The District of Sechelt recently awarded this project to Dillon Consulting for $69,996.
