In the past months, I have learned a lot about our Official Community Plan (OCP) and Land Use Bylaws (LUB), specifically that many of our community members don’t understand how it all works. I have spoken to our Planner Stephen Baugh at length to ensure that  I am providing accurate information (thank you, Stephen). 

    

The OCP outlines how the community at the time would like to see the island develop from a land use and land use planning perspective. “The purpose of this Plan is to outline the goals of the community, the objectives relating to matters of Local Trust Committee authority and policies that provide guidance as to how to implement those objectives” (https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/lasqueti-island-ocp-bylaw-no-2023/).

 

   

In 2018, we started a review of our OCP as it hadn’t been reviewed since 2005 and was out of date. The LCA (Lasqueti Community Association) created an OCP Steering Committee, and as you may recall, the community was asked for input on OCP-related issues on multiple occasions in the form of community meetings.  The OCP Steering Committee produced a report outlining what they liked and didn’t like about the OCP.

 

The LCA report was presented to the LTC (Local Trust Committee) who directed staff to draft an OCP bylaw that incorporated the recommendations from the LCA report. At this point, using the Islands Trust Act and Local Government Act, and the Islands Trust Policy Statement as a guide, the report was reviewed by staff to ensure that the suggested changes were possible within the framework of the applicable acts. A new OCP draft bylaw was created and given first reading. Then the amended OCP was referred to First Nations, local governments, and agencies. These bodies may request changes, indicate support, fail to respond or identify their interest with some general comments. The Lasqueti LTC Project Page has more information on the project (including the LCA report) <https://islandstrust.bc.ca/island-planning/lasqueti/projects/>.  

 

If you have any questions about this or anything else related to the Islands Trust, please don’t hesitate to contact me (or Tim). Mikaila Lironi 250-812-2560 mlironi@Islandstrust.bc.ca

 

Mikaila Lironi   mlironi@islandstrust.bc.ca  | 250-812-2560

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