Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star Published: June 20, 2009 12:00 PM
Community growth was on the menu as the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce hosted a Planner’s Breakfast Wednesday at the Prestige Hotel. Serving up the main course were Kim Flick, Vernon planning manager, Craig Broderick, Coldstream’s director of development services and Anthony Kittel, North Okanagan Regional District regional growth strategy coordinator. The three speakers touched on a range of subjects, including regional growth strategies and the need for public input, the current economic slowdown, and Vernon’s downtown revitalization project. Flick says the global recession has definitely had an impact on the local economy. Unemployment climbed to 7.9 per cent as of May 2009, equating 1,160 newly unemployed people in a community of 36,000. Building permit values have dropped from $104 million in 2008 to $44 million for the same time this year. However, Flick noted Vernon is still ahead of the entire year’s worth from 1995 to 2002. “While things have dropped, the bottom hasn’t dropped out of it,” said Flick. Flick explained several major project expansions – Vernon Jubilee Hospital, WalMart and Predator Ridge – are helping sustain the local work force.The slowdown in development has allowed the city to catch up on a lot of paperwork and policies.
It has been focussing on the Official Community Plan, streamlining the developing approval process, introducing a new development cost charge bylaw, starting plans for a city centre and waterfront area and developing a revitalization scheme for 31st Avenue. “That’s all the planning we’ve packed into five months so far,” smiled Flick. “The last five years, every planning department across the country has been focussed on development activity. “A bit of a drop in development activity allows us to get to work on all those other issues.” Flick noted the lull won’t last forever. “We have a lot of planning and engineering that’s ongoing, so people are getting ready. It’s not like people have packed up and left the building.” The city is also trying to encourage growth in the downtown revitalization area, which encompasses from Polson Park to 43rd Avenue, and from 35th Street to 27th Street. “We’re looking to establish a revitalization area, which would mean improvements within that area are exempted from taxation for a period of up to 10 years,” said Flick. “A vibrant downtown is a very important part to the community. It provides a focus and a whole range of commercial and office opportunities that you don’t get in malls and big box areas.”
Looking at the North Okanagan as a whole, Kittel has been dealing with the common issues affecting each of the region’s stakeholders – environment, housing, land management and transportation, to name a few. Incorporating all these issues into a single regional growth strategy is a challenge, but Kittel says his biggest concern is getting public input. “The biggest challenge has been attempting to get the word out there,” said Kittel. “It’s a very large region.” NORD is hosting a series of open houses to get public input on what the regional growth strategy should entail and what the primary issues are. The open houses go Monday at the Vernon Recreation Complex, Tuesday at the Enderby Drill Hall and Thursday at the Lumby White Valley Community Centre. To engage the North Okangan’s youth, NORD is also hosting several contests on topics ranging from media arts, community mapping, writing and envisioning your community. “The stakeholder input is going to be vital to this document as we move forward, especially early on in the process,” said Kittel. “We’re looking at more innovative ways of engaging the public.” The breakfast was sponsored by Monashee Surveying & Geomatics.
No comments:
Post a Comment