Public consultations about changing the Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw have been occurring for several weeks and city hall is pleased with how those events are going.
“We’re really excited to get this project underway and engage with the community,” Michelle Sanson, director of planning and development, said during the recent city council meeting.
Consulting firms Wallace Insights and Crosby Hanna launched several activities on Jan. 27 to kick off the process, while the city launched a project web page that included two introductory videos about the year-long project, 12 digital posters with discussion topics and several surveys.
The first survey is now open and closes Friday, April 21, while residents should watch the page closely since there will be two more surveys soon and many project updates, said Sanson.
There have been several technical workshops held — such as about utilities, infrastructure, and transportation — that have attracted dozens of people, while a pop-up event at the Kinsmen Sportsplex engaged 49 people and an event at Saskatchewan Polytechnic attracted around 50 students.
Moreover, an extensive engagement program will be conducted throughout the winter and spring months. This will include 13 more workshops, seven other pop-up events and other informal stakeholder meetings.
A community-wide event on Wednesday, April 5, will feature University of Saskatchewan researcher Laura Wright, who will discuss demographics, Sanson said. A panel will also feature four residents of various ages as part of a generational conversation.
The final two technical stakeholder engagement sessions include employment on Wednesday, April 12, at Grant Hall at 4 p.m. and community connections/quality of life at the library on Thursday, April 13, at 10:30 a.m.
City administration expects to receive an engagement summary report by June that will allow it to pursue policy direction activities over the summer, she added. The consultants will return in the fall to help craft the final OCP and zoning bylaw documents. Those will then be sent to the province for official approval and should go into effect in early 2024.
City hall has been promoting the OCP engagement process mostly through radio advertisements and the city’s website, Sanson said in response to a council question.
“Personally, I’d like to see some newspaper advertising for some of our older residents,” said Coun. Jamey Logan. “Not everyone is on social media.”
It is possible to insert leaflets into water bills advertising this process, but the municipality is moving toward electronic billing (e-billing) in the future, which means city hall can’t insert any extra information, finance director Brian Acker said in response to another question. Until that occurs, though, city administration could pursue that idea.
“Any water bills that come out in the next few months, that would be a great opportunity to put out a little flyer,” said Coun. Doug Blanc.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 27.
