Creating a vibrant road ahead through broad knowledge and informed action-oriented strategies is the focus of the Castlegar OCP Action Plans being put together by second-year students in Selkirk College’s Applied Environmental Science & Planning Technology Program.
Mentored by the skilled leadership of instructor Peter Holton, students in the unique Selkirk College program have been providing pro bono planning work for a local governments and organizations throughout the region for the last 24 years. Over the last few months, 17 students in the current cohort have been collecting information on specific topics and preparing draft plans.
As the process moves into its public engagement phase, students are asking Castlegar citizens to attend an open house on Wednesday, March 12 to familiarize themselves with the draft plans and provide input. The event will take place at the Castlegar Community Forum (445 13th Avenue) from 5 pm to 7 pm.
“Our plan topics are taken from the city’s newly adopted Official Community Plan,” says Holton.
“Our students take each topic and go much deeper than the broad natured OCP allows for. Gaining citizen input at our open house will be helpful to students and the city alike.”
Castlegar’s recently adopted Official Community Plan has identified numerous areas for future study, research, plan development and implementation. The OCP Action Plans are designed to aid in this process, covering a wide range of topics that include: infill and densification; pedestrian safety, parks, tactical urbanism and civic infrastructure; re-inhabiting the regional commercial area; housing type options; trails and recreation; urban ecology; water quality; neighborhood plans; light pollution, wildfire prevention, a dog park, among others.
Informed Approach for Real World Challenges
Land use and environmental planning has been the focus of Holton’s career for the past 39 years. Working primarily in rural communities across North America, he has been involved with regional and municipal planning departments doing long-range and current planning.
Still an active consultant, Holton has been a member of the School of Environment & Geomatics instructional team since 2001.
“Working with Selkirk College students and guiding them through these real-world exercises has been the most rewarding part of my career,” he says.
The plan preparation processes that students have been working on are:
- Compiling existing data on each selected topic in order to define the relevant issues and guide the development of a focus plan;
- Gathering information, input and ideas from the public, agencies, residents, landowners, businesses, and elected and appointed officials;
- Developing a set of planning goals and objectives for each individual topic;
- Researching how other entities and jurisdictions address similar issues throughout North America and document technologies and practices appropriate for Castlegar and surrounding areas;
- Outlining discrete action steps that can be taken to address issues and identify the parties that would be responsible for each action step;
- Providing order of magnitude cost estimates.
A vital part of the program’s curriculum and outcomes, Holton’s students have worked with almost every community in the region over the last 24 years. Some of the projects include: City of Nelson OCP Implementation Plan; Rossland Trails and Laneways Plan; Cottonwood Creek Protection Plan; Kootenay Lake Partnership Stewardship Plans; and the Village of Salmo Livable Village Action Plan.
“I’m always impressed at how students really commit to this particular element of the program by bringing a fresh perspective and earned understanding of the issues,” says Holton. “The students choose this program because it’s very career-focused and applicable. They arrive with different backgrounds of knowledge and specific interests, and through this they add so much depth with the time they spend in the classroom and the variety of hands-on field work they participate in over the two-year program. The community partners we work with are in good hands with this next generation.”
The March 12 open house is open to all members of the public. Final plans will be completed in April and presented to the city later this spring. For more information, please contact Peter Holton, [email protected].
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