Staff Report: OCP Public Engagement Update

PURPOSE OF REPORT

This report briefly introduces the attached Phase 1 Consultation Report “What We Heard”, prepared by Ecoplan, the Town’s lead consultants for the ongoing OCP Update project. It then outlines the major components of the Phase 2 consultation program which begins in January 2022.

Phase 1 Engagement

The ‘What we Heard’ report summarizes the View Royal Official Community Plan (OCP) update Phase 1 of community and stakeholder engagement, which took place between September to November 2021.

This phase of public consultation focussed on gathering community members views on the vision, priorities, issues and opportunities to direct View Royal’s future. The consultation included 11 neighbourhood walk shops, 3 online workshops and an online survey.

Emerging Themes from Phase 1

Overall, community members expressed care about View Royal and wrote extensively about their neighborhoods. Many engagement participants took the time to provide thoughtful and detailed responses in all engagement streams. Emerging themes include:

• Pedestrian and cyclist focused streets
• Affordable Housing
• Multi-modal transportation
• Walkability
• Placemaking
• Parks, greenspace, and water access

NEXT STEPS

Phase 2 Engagement

The second phase of community and stakeholder engagement is outlined as follows:

Objectives for Phase 2 engagement:

• Education: Share information on the connections between land use, density and transportation, as they relate to future considerations for managing growth in View Royal.
• Collaborate: Provide participants an opportunity to voice what matters to them/ perspectives on future land use and design directions.
• Build Relationships: discussions are an opportunity to have important conversations, listen to diverse perspectives and continue building and fostering relationships with View Royal residents, business owners, and developers.

Consultation Goals

• Help to build shared understanding of design directions that will support desired redevelopment along existing community corridors and neighbourhood centres
• Gather input on what level of acceptance is there for different forms of housing redevelopment adjacent to and within existing residential neighbourhoods
• Addressing common concerns of residents related to traffic and parking. In tandem with climate action strategy goals – using OCP as a climate action implementation tool.
• Realistic land use and design directions for major transportation routes within View Royal and supporting better north-south connections.

Who are we engaging?

• Community members / general public
• View Royal organizations, associations
• Advisory Committee members, as individuals
• Developers and business owners

How are we engaging?

• Online delivery with presentation and input formats – Mentimeter and Mural
• Online community survey
• Town staff will consider delivering in-person sessions at Town Hall – using the same materials developed for online engagement subject to COVID conditions at the time.

Proposed Dates:

• Town office closed from Dec 23 to January 3rd. Advertising begins week of January 3rd, 2022, using Town social media and email list Phase 1.
• Delivery of Phase 2 workshops and survey start January 24th and complete mid-February.
• Complete Phase 2 ‘What we heard’ report by end of February 2022.

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council receive the report dated December 8, 2021 from the Community Planner entitled “OCP Public Engagement Update” for information.