The draft Official Community Plan is well intended but is unfortunately flawed in a number of respects. It contains a broad range of intentions and policies but little in terms of a framework or direction as to how these will be implemented. The lack of clarity will be confusing for the public, developers, staff and Council.
To refer to the OCP as a high level policy document will relegate it to yet another document sitting on the shelf collecting dust. It needs to provide clear direction regarding where and how development will occur; a clear vision for downtown; and a commitment to the protection of the environment.
Based on their intention to adopt the bylaw before summer, it remains to be seen as to what extent Council is willing to consider comments from the community regarding the draft OCP.
VISION
The Vision is a collection of aspirational statements but provides no clear direction regarding who or what we will be as a community in 10-15 years. It is interesting to note that the draft Sidney OCP mentions ‘family’ only five times and ‘transportation’ seventy- eight times.
Will we become like a gated community where only the people with the means can afford to live here and young people are forced to leave because they can’t afford to live there? Attracting a younger work force to live in communities like Sidney will require a comprehensive approach that reaches far beyond affordable housing and will need to provide the quality of life that will be necessary in order to attract them.
How will we maintain neighbourhood character as we transition to more intensive residential development with the knock on effects resulting from increased parking and traffic?
How will we create a vital downtown experience rather than a hodge podge of developments with a dwindling demand for retail space?
What will our Seaside character be when the sea level rise projections start to impact the Sidney shoreline?
NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENTIAL
The proposed policies would reduce the minimum lot size from 500 m2 to 350 m2 for single family dwellings and from 715 m2 to 350 m2 for duplexes. The policies for Intensive Residential would drop these standards even lower, to 250 m2 for a duplex or a single family dwelling. The lack of limits or parameters will give the development community broad latitude and make it extremely difficult to assess whether a proposed development is unacceptable.
NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMERCIAL
In order to achieve ‘complete neighbourhoods’ the draft OCP identifies significant areas, including Bowerbank, Greenglade and the Cedarwood site for neighbourhood commercial development. Again, there is little indication of the limits to development other than a vague statement that not all sites would be considered for rezoning.
The policies regarding downtown are intended to replace the Downtown Local Area Plan. Unfortunately, this will result in the lack of a clear comprehensive vision of the future of downtown that recognizes the constraints and opportunities.
The inclusion of the Gateway site in the downtown designation appears to be tone deaf to the community opposition to the potential development of this site in a manner that would compete with downtown.
ENVIRONMENT
The environmental designation fails to include large areas of Sidney’s shoreline. The policies are laced with ‘where possible’ or ‘may be required’ but no indication of according to who or based on what. It gives the impression that there is not a true commitment to the protection of the environment.
IMPLEMENTATION
The failure to implement is a hallmark of failed Official Community Plans. If this OCP is to be a success it needs to be a living document. The pages should be worn from constant reference to the work that needs to be done.
This means including clear direction in the OCP regarding further work and actions that would be included for consideration when Council is forming its strategic plans and budgets.
PLEASE contact your Mayor and Town Councillors with your response to this draft OCP. and fill out the Town’s online survey . Encourage your friends to do the same
Time is very short. As to why just over a month to respond to this lengthy OCP document, that is another question.
OTHER PLANS – CLIMATE ACTION & ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION
In addition to the Official Community Plan, the Town is also undertaking an update to the Climate Action Plan and the creation of an Active Transportation Plan.
This year it will be more important than ever that we hear from you. We encourage you to sign up at: Membership(
Meaningful input will not be possible without volunteers prepared to get involved. This includes membership on the Board and volunteering on working groups. We are also looking for representation from the Greenglade and “South Sidney” neighbourhoods.
COFFEE & DONUTS!
We are undertaking an initiative to connect to the community through ‘street meetings’. If you and your neighbours are interested in learning more about a particular topic or have concerns that you want to make us aware of, let us know. We will host a socially distanced meeting out on your street. You bring the coffee- we’ll bring the donuts.
To get involved, find contact information for committee chairs at the bottom of the Home page on our website, sidneycommunityassociation.ca.