Official Community Plan 2011 - Summary Guide

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Official Community Plan (2011)

North Cowichan Council approved its new Official Community Plan Bylaw and Development Permit Guidelines at its July 20, 2011, regular meeting.  See the PowerPoint presentation made at the public hearing The Municipality thanks everyone who participated in this process.

The OCP:

• sets out the community vision and values that will guide decision-making about our future direction;
• clarifies for residents, businesses and institutions the primary goals and objectives with the supporting policies that help the Municipality to meet its goals; and
• informs neighbouring jurisdictions of our planned direction and identifies the areas where mutual cooperation is necessary to help us meet certain goals.

Building on the 2002 OCP, the plan affirms the direction and goals the Municipality set at that time. New in this update plan are:

• guiding principles that underpin the plan and provide a general framework for decision-making;
• current issues that have become more urgent since 2002; and
• a revised format for presenting policies, designed to improve their clarity and ease of use.

The 2011 OCP is presented in four sections:

Section I Identifies the five principles that guide our approach to planning. It also itemizes key assets and challenges that influence current planning in North Cowichan. Section II Identifies five primary goals and the broad policy direction set by the Municipality to accomplish those goals.

Section III Provides four key strategy areas for implementing, monitoring and adjusting the plan based on ongoing community engagement.

Section IV Contains the appendices, including maps and the implementation framework, information relevant to the context and possible implications of various statements contained within the Plan. Development Permit Areas (DPA) are designated over land in the District of North Cowichan for a variety of reasons: protecting the natural environment; protection of development from hazardous conditions; protection of farming; revitalization of a commercial area; form and character of commercial, industrial and multi-family residential development; energy conservation; water conservation; and to reduce green house gas emissions. The Official Community Plan designates the areas in the Municipality for which these development permit areas apply. These designations can be found in Appendix 3 of the OCP. Detailed guidelines for each of these Development Permit Areas are located in the Zoning Bylaw and were adopted at the same time as the OCP. View the Development Permit Guidelines