City officials are expecting a large turnout at stakeholder meetings scheduled for this month as the city looks to review its Official 
Community Plan (OCP). At the meetings the public will be asked for their input on the values and priorities that they want Vernon‘s OCP to reflect. The first meeting is scheduled for Saturday and will take place at Okanagan Landing school from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The second meeting will follow a week later at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. “There has been a tremendous amount of interest in these meetings,” said Coun. Buffy Baumbrough. “I think there are a number of issues that people want to see addressed.” Tom Lancaster, a consultant for Smart Growth Advisory Services, said he was estimating around 350 people would attend the meeting, which was “about 300 more than we expected”. The OCP is a document that outlines the land use strategy of the city, a strategy that is supposed to change with the values and demographics of the community. “We‘re looking to take what we have heard at meetings and on the web, survey and transform that input into a spatial map,” said Lancaster. Participants in this month‘s meetings will be examining two “preference maps” – digital three dimensional modeling programs – that give viewers a look at how the city will change over a period of time if different land use policy is followed. It is the values that are important to Vernonites that will shape the zoning and land use designations. “We‘ve heard that people are concerned with how transportation will be integrated into the city plan,” said Lancaster. “So one option that will be shown on the maps is mixed zoning neighbourhoods where people can walk to the grocery store or to get a coffee,” said Lancaster, noting that the OCP review is still in the early stages. Baumbrough said that while OCPs usually encompass a 20 year span, “it is definitely not a static document”. “The rapid growth that we‘ve seen has made a major review of the OCP necessary,” said Baumbrough. Lancaster said that the most important thing for citizens to remember is that it would be their input that would shape the future of the OCP. “The OCP guides all development; it‘s the principles that people feel are important that guide the OCP.”
Community Plan (OCP). At the meetings the public will be asked for their input on the values and priorities that they want Vernon‘s OCP to reflect. The first meeting is scheduled for Saturday and will take place at Okanagan Landing school from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The second meeting will follow a week later at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. “There has been a tremendous amount of interest in these meetings,” said Coun. Buffy Baumbrough. “I think there are a number of issues that people want to see addressed.” Tom Lancaster, a consultant for Smart Growth Advisory Services, said he was estimating around 350 people would attend the meeting, which was “about 300 more than we expected”. The OCP is a document that outlines the land use strategy of the city, a strategy that is supposed to change with the values and demographics of the community. “We‘re looking to take what we have heard at meetings and on the web, survey and transform that input into a spatial map,” said Lancaster. Participants in this month‘s meetings will be examining two “preference maps” – digital three dimensional modeling programs – that give viewers a look at how the city will change over a period of time if different land use policy is followed. It is the values that are important to Vernonites that will shape the zoning and land use designations. “We‘ve heard that people are concerned with how transportation will be integrated into the city plan,” said Lancaster. “So one option that will be shown on the maps is mixed zoning neighbourhoods where people can walk to the grocery store or to get a coffee,” said Lancaster, noting that the OCP review is still in the early stages. Baumbrough said that while OCPs usually encompass a 20 year span, “it is definitely not a static document”. “The rapid growth that we‘ve seen has made a major review of the OCP necessary,” said Baumbrough. Lancaster said that the most important thing for citizens to remember is that it would be their input that would shape the future of the OCP. “The OCP guides all development; it‘s the principles that people feel are important that guide the OCP.” 
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