New Westminster citizens have been showing a lot of love for the update to the city’s official community plan.
Community members attended the Our City neighbourhood visioning process at Anvil Centre on Feb. 28, where they reviewed material created at the Feb. 14 Love Our City workshop.
Jackie Teed, the city’s planning manager, said lots of “new faces” showed up to review the material. Work is underway to post the information on the city’s website.
The weekend’s workshop posed a number of questions for the community’s consideration: What do you think your neighbourhood and the city should be like in the future? What do you love about your neighbourhood and what’s missing? How can new housing and commercial growth appropriately fit into the neighbourhood? What are the “big moves” that would make New Westminster even greater and prepare the city for the future?
Along with the information presented at the visioning open house, a survey will be posted on the city’s website later this week.
Teed said the information gathered to date will help staff establish visions and goals, which will be presented at a community workshop in late spring.
The planning work being done as part of the official community plan update will address issues such as how New Westminster will accommodate growth, residents and businesses in the future. The city will develop three land-use scenarios that will be presented to the public in the fall.
The City of New Westminster is in the midst of updating its official community plan and hopes to have it approved in 2016. The plan, which will guide future growth, will include policies on housing, parks and open space, arts and culture, heritage, energy, utility services, transportation, well-being, hazards, economy and environment.
“People should come out and participate in the events and follow what’s going on online and see what’s coming up, and encourage everyone they know to participate as well,” Teed said. “We are really trying to get as many different kinds of residents involved as possible. The more people, the better.”
For more on the official community plan, visit the city’s website at www.newwestcity.ca.
