Burden of Proof

Change, Growth and Adapt are actions which we are considered as positive attributes in people. We admire people as they take on personal growth challenges. There are people who make a good living counselling these attributes in individuals. We look on those who grow, adapt and change in their personal circumstances with respect; but apply these words to a community and we fight these actions with tenacity. Organizations spring up as alliances are formed to oppose growth and change. So if personal growth and change is an attribute in individuals why can’t we apply that same perspective to the growth of a community?

I remember a doorstep conversation while I was campaigning last October where the person I was talking to wanted to stop any further growth by stopping people from coming to live here. How is that first of all possible and second moral or realistic. Most of us came here from somewhere for a variety of reasons; surely we didn’t honestly expect to be able to pull up the drawbridge and stop others from coming once we had arrived to put our personal stamp on our interpretation of paradise. The real question then becomes planned growth, change and adaptation. The creation of a fluid plan that allows for development and change that suits the needs of this changing community.

This is the role of the Official Community Plan. The Local Government Act (Section 875) describes the Official Community plan as a statement of objectives and policies to guide decisions on planning and land use management, within the area covered by the plan, respecting the purposes of local government. It sets out the requirements for the Official Community Plan and states that it is a five year plan for planning for the residential commercial and industrial needs of a community. It should also include plans for transportation and sewer and water needs to accommodate the future needs of a community.

Given the current decline in activity in the planning department; why not use the resources built up and retained over the past years of increased activity to take on this task. Parksville council is waffling on their election promise of an Official Community Plan review saying the cost is too high. I suggest we either downsize the planning department and its budget or get on with reviewing the Official Community Plan as promised. Other than the constant flow of amendments with limited public input the current plan has not been reviewed since 2002, well past the five year shelf life. Growth and change continue in an ad hoc fashion and it is definitely time to put some real planning into that growth and change and avoid past mistakes to once again make Parksville the jewel of the West Coast that its physical setting drew us to in the first place.


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