OCP soon finished?

At the January 21 Osoyoos Town Council meeting, council review-ed a memo from Town Planner Alain Cunning-ham with regards to a timeline for completing the new Official Community Plan.
Cunningham, who is also the OCP Committee facilitator, noted the new plan is seeking to address the following:rn- Incorporate now popular 'Smart Growth' principles;rn- Accommodate divergent ideas within the community about the appropriate pace of growth and scale of development;rn- Consider planning implications of possible municipal extensions;rn- Advance the town's parallel planning process for the Kruger Mountain area;rn- Coordinate with the evolving Regional Growth Strategy (RGS);rn- Negotiate with the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) on agricultural land reserve issues.
Cunningham said further that the previous schedule was delayed due to staff time off, and that he has strongly advised the OCP Review Committee to proceed as quickly as possible with the completion of a draft plan.
He added that ensuring an appro-priate level of public consultation was also important.
The first partial draft plan was presented at an open house last July and a second partial draft plan is currently being prepared and will be presented at the next open house, which is estimated for February 28.
Cunningham noted that the East Osoyoos Transportation Plan needs to be confirmed before the infrastructure chapter can be completed, and that Riparian Development Permit Guidelines will have to be approved first under the current OCP in order to meet the Province's March 31, 2006 deadline.
The OCP Committee will present the complete draft plan to a third and final open house, tentatively scheduled for mid-May, followed by a review by council.
A public hearing is estimated for June 30, followed by council approval and final adoption sometime in August.
The OCP Committee is also willing to meet with interested community organiza-tions as part of their consultation process.
Cunningham added he would be regularly updating Councillor Allan Carswell on the committee's progress.