An updated Official Community Plan (OCP) for the District of Fort St. James will soon be available to the community for feedback.
Mayor Martin Elphee spoke with The Courier on Oct. 31 and said the district was expecting the draft by the end of October. He said they expect it would take about six months before the plan would be finalized to include community consultation.
District of Fort St. James council and staff heard a presentation on the OCP in progress at their Oct. 24 regular meeting.
Brian Carruthers, a consultant with BD Carruthers and Associates, presented via Zoom to the council, summarizing the strategic planning process to date and the sections of the draft strategic plan.
Elphee, who only recently returned from knee replacement surgery, said the draft to this point had largely been created with input from the previous mayor and council as well as previous staff. Since then, there has been significant changes in the district staff.
He was not ready to pick out any highlights of the draft OCP at this point.
The draft plan includes four strategic focus areas and the top 10 priorities of council.
The strategic focus areas included in the current draft are: Adapting to a changing climate; managing community assets; Indigenous relations and reconciliation; and organizational effectiveness.
Jason Llewellyn, director of planning for Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako then joined the meeting via Zoom to provide an overview of the OCP review process and summarized next steps for council.
A draft of the plan was going to be provided to the district prior to their next meeting.
The plan will then be provided to the public for engagement and feedback.
Llewellyn said a typical process allowing for public review would lead to adoption of the OCP by mid 2024.
READ MORE: Construction phase of northern B.C. natural gas pipeline complete