OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN REVIEW UPDATE – DRAFT VISION SURVEY

TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COUNCIL REPORT

TO: Council DATE: July 07, 2025 FROM: Stirling Scory, RPP, MCIP Senior Planner MEETING DATE: July 15, 2025

OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN REVIEW UPDATE – DRAFT VISION SURVEY

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council instruct staff to publish the “Vision Survey” attached to the report and titled “Official Community Plan Review Update – Draft Vision Survey” from the Senior Planner dated July 7, 2025;

AND THAT Council authorize staff to initiate engagement on the “Vision Survey” in the summer of 2025.

If Council supports the recommendation, then staff could launch the survey between July 16th and 18th, and keep the survey open until the beginning of September. This would allow respondents to provide feedback over the course of approximately seven weeks.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

Option 1:

THAT Council make specific amendments to the draft “Vision Survey” attached to the report titled “Official Community Plan Review Update – Draft Vision Survey” from the Senior Planner dated July 7, 2025, and provide the recommended changes to staff at the July 15, 2025, Council meeting.

AND THAT Council direct staff to publish the draft “Vision Survey”, as amended, for engagement.

AND FURTHER THAT Council instruct staff to initiate engagement on the “Vision Survey” in the summer of 2025.

Should Council move forward with this option, staff would prepare amendments to the Vision and Land Use Survey and proceed with public engagement on the vision statement and goals in the summer.

Under this option, staff require specific and clear instruction in how the draft Vision Survey is to be amended in the form of motions to ensure that Council’s feedback is captured and incorporated into the survey.

Option 2:

THAT Council make specific amendments to the draft “Vision Survey” attached to the report titled “Official Community Plan Review Update – Draft Vision Survey” from the Senior Planner dated July 7, 2025, and provide the recommended changes to staff at the July 15, 2025, Council meeting.

AND THAT Council instruct staff to begin engagement on the “Vision Survey” in September 2025.

Staff do not recommend this option; however, should Council consider option 2, the survey would not be published over the summer and engagement would be delayed until September. Given limited staff time and resources, it would be advantageous to complete engagement during the summer to avoid further project delays and enable staff to embark on meaningful public engagement on general OCP policies and begin drafting the OCP in the fall.

Option 3:

THAT Council instruct staff not to publish the draft “Vision Survey” attached to the report titled “Official Community Plan Review Update – Draft Vision Survey” from the Senior Planner dated July 7, 2025.

Staff do not recommend this option. Public engagement is a vital process in the review and update of an OCP. The community has already spent a substantial amount of time and effort in participating up to this point. The public has been informed that the Town would be reporting back on the feedback that they have provided so far and show them draft content to review and provide further input on. However, should Council consider this option, the draft “Vision Survey” will not be published in its current form and the public will not be engaged on the draft vision statement and goals until Council provides further direction.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an opportunity to review and provide comment on the draft Vision Survey prior to publication.

BACKGROUND:

On May 13, 2025, at the Special Council meeting, staff presented an update on engagement for the OCP review and update, including a brief description of a planned Engagement Week #2, methods of outreach, and a draft survey on the vision statement and goals, and three land use scenarios. Engagement was planned to take place between May 16 and June 8, 2025. The planned engagement built on two previous touchpoints (Vision and Guiding Principles Survey and Community Growth Survey) during the Phase 1 Official Community Plan (OCP) review and update.

However, during that meeting Council requested that the engagement be paused until the survey could be reviewed by Council. In response, staff brought forward a draft of the Vision and Land Use Survey to Committee of the Whole on June 10, 2025. In that meeting, the Committee passed a motion to revise the scope of the OCP review and update. Given this decision, the proposed Vision and Land Use Survey required significant amendments due to the change in project scope, including the deletion of specific questions related to three draft land use scenarios.

In response to the Committee’s decision on June 10, 2025, staff are presenting a new draft Vision Survey, for Council’s consideration. This draft survey contains draft vision statements and goals. Feedback provided in this survey will be used to inform the 50% draft prepared in the spring of 2026.

ANALYSIS:

The Vision Survey will ask respondents for feedback on the proposed vision statement and draft goals. A total of three draft vision statements and 11 draft goals are provided. Respondents will be able to select their preferred vision statement or suggest alternative options as well as indicate their level of support for each draft goal. At this stage, the project team is doing a temperature check to see if we heard correctly the feedback gathered during the Vision and Guiding Principles Survey. To supplement the vision survey, staff will host pop-ups throughout the community to promote the survey and re-engage the public on the OCP review and update.

A copy of the Vision Survey is available for review and feedback (see Attachment 1) prior to publication. Should the Committee have suggested edits, it is recommended that the Committee pass a motion(s) citing the required change(s) prior to publication. This process ensures that Council’s feedback is incorporated into the draft survey and forms part of the public record. In addition, it makes it clear for staff what changes are desired prior to publication.

Impacts and implications can be summarized as follows:

ALIGNMENT:

The recommended option aligns with the Town’s following core guiding documents as follows:

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOAL:

The desired level of public participation for the recommended option is:

☐ Inform ☒ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower ☐ N/A

TIME CRITICAL: