Round 2 CVRD OCP Town Halls
Be there! Your voices made a difference in round one! First Town Hall Tomorrow
Thanks to all those who came out for the last rounds of Town Halls. Amazingly we can see much of your input in the updated feedback ( link below) i.e. “There should be no banning of woodstoves as people in the area lose power”. ( pg 23) . Your voice made a difference, though it may seem minour, little wins are how we keep our beautiful community as it is.
“The OCP is a multi-year, multi-faceted project aligned with the CVRD’s Corporate Strategic Plan seeking to support more sustainable and coordinated growth and development in the region. Objectives listed in the Corporate Strategic Plan are included in this OCP in their respective policy sections. The OCP is also aligned with the Cowichan 2050 new regionalism framework which focuses on growth management, climate change and First Nation relationships” - CVRD
Not mentioned below - Tomorrow, the Friday workshop, is located at Shawnigan Lake Community Centre
Mark your calendars for each date.
If you would rather not read the 150 pages of “What We Heard”, we have extracted some of the the information for you to arm yourselves with when you attend the upcoming Town Halls.
Some plans seem reasonable, but tend to conflict with the proposed agriculture plan ( see Town hall on the Agriculture plan @ coap.ca), however other points/ideas seem rather drastic for the CVRD area .
Remember the CVRD has a goal to put 50% of lands ‘back to nature’ by 2050 when you read below.
“Ministry of Agriculture to increase farm earnings for farm tax credit from $2,500 to $20, 000” . Is this the end of farm stands for tax reasons?
“ Soil qualifications” may be similar to other areas where you must have a soil “ specialist” qualify what parts of your land you must grow on, and not build on etc ( like in a Cedar plan currently in development ).
"Extend water conservation [restrictions] so they apply throughout the year”
“more ambitious riparian area” - Also in the Ag. plan - larger setbacks for farm buildings and animals
“Ban Airbnb and vacation rentals in single family homes”.
“Prohibit mix use buildings” ( needs further clarification)
“Require all new development to be 3-4 stories” . For densification within ‘growth containment boundaries”. ( need further clarification as to “ALL NEW”.
“Regulate septic systems”
“ No natural gas appliances or heating in new builds or renovations”. Better stick them in now folks. The B.C. government is also taking away all subsidies for gas appliances at the end of 2023.
“ Ban fossil fuels from construction”. This needs clarification, what does that mean? No diesel trucks bringing in cement? …being silly, but with such broad language, it could mean anything.
“Permits that would demand metal roofing”
“Carbon tax credit for those that reduce carbon” - The Province, so why be in our plans?
“Gas Tax to hinder usage” - That sounds like a conspiracy to get rid of cars.
“ Regulate back country ATV” More than they do already? Lock more gates? How many fires are started by ATVs?
“Regulate dirt bikes”.
‘Involve children’
“ Active transportation” means walking, biking, rolling. Fabulous in the nice months, if one so CHOOSES. This is part of the layout for 15 min cities, which also sounds great in theory, however with 80% of folks in the CVRD commuting, this doesn’t sound realistic. Additionally, the growth centres do not contain everything that one needs. The plan, like in the North Cowichan Plan is to have our needs met within a 15 min. walk, and then if we need to go between growth centres we could use public transit, ride shares, or cycle on pathways. Does this work for your lifestyle?
[See your boundaries in the full version below.]
“UNDRIP” is a U.N. declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. The first page states that anyone can identify as “Indigenous” which could cause a lot of legal battles in the future. With almost all land in B.C. being un-ceded ( never given to the crown), wherein lies the rights of the multi-generational families not from First Nation linage?
Rights should always be respected, but do we need the United Nations to be interfering in local governing? A thought filled question for the greater community to consider.
Survey “Open Thursday, October 12, 2023 until November 15, 2023”:
https://www.planyourcowichan.ca/ideas-fairs-local-area-plans/survey_tools/cvrd-lap-step-1
Full Plan the excerpts came from above - find your nuggets that YOU want to ask questions on :
https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/d0f586d02e87bddcbdab7e9e23a1e09a35e9a059/original/1696966673/9cad836dd80a4df39f277a5c4fa5416a_IDEASBOOK-Print-Final-3-2023-Temp2.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20231012%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20231012T211008Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b285b56a4c84ce456982ce684de7a6a74a03cdb7d45d1714fe144e44f3accb9d
Sincerely,
Coap Inc.
(The whole 100+ pages https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/a53507b707f053e9c6ba46195e2ad2a78b775b36/original/1692379038/82ff3432d6cdc4582750098bc20e171c_IDEASBOOK-Print-Final-4-2023-Temp.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20231009%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20231009T214039Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=cf0c9e34b3be87ab4120a7e16ada8bbec70853f8036cc366eca84dc18c624555)