Official Plan Review

The Technical Services and Planning Board Committee will be conducting a comprehensive review of our Official Plan. Some of the areas in the plan that will need to be considered include:
•Sustainability (more mixed zoning)
•Climate change (plan for reuse of existing building stock, green roofs,
•Create standards designed to encourage workability and complete streets
•Senior housing development
•Economic development strategy results
•Land use- Zoning controls, development controls, area plans (Downtown)
•Sector analysis- Residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, institutional
All citizens and developers will have an opportunity for input. Much needed exercise and looking forward to getting this rolling in the very near future.
City Hall to review official plan

Summerside City Hall
Published on May 11, 2011
Published on May 10, 2011
Mike Carson

SUMMERSIDE - The City must undertake a review of its official plan this year and a committee is being struck to help outline the direction the city will follow for the next five years
Legislation requires the plan be reviewed every five years.
"The city, under the Municipalities Act, has to review the Official Plan and what I'm proposing is a working group that will work with the council and the staff to review our Official Plan for zoning bylaws, development bylaws," said technical services committee chairman Councillor Cory Thomas. "I'm looking at a committee comprised of developers, people from the business community, one citizen at large, planning staff, the technical services committee members. We would be reviewing and having discussions reviewing what other municipalities are doing - how we can make our city more open to development. We will also be consulting with the general public through surveys that will be sent out and surveys that will be sent out to businesses and developers as well."
Thomas said there is a consultation process that the city is required to follow which is a series of public meetings if any changes in the official plan are to be made.
Thomas said the specific topics of the survey have not been developed, but he did say it could address issues like mixed zoning, green space and the development of the downtown.
The city has a series of other reviews going on or being planned that will complement the official plan review. One of those would be a traffic management plan, a topic that Thomas has raised in the past. Another is the economic development review along with a study of the community services department.
"I'm hoping traffic management would be involved looking at the reviewing of the engineering of our streets and how those can be improved," he said. "We'd be looking at Pope Road Extension, which is a nightmare (in its present form) and there's other streets as well. The economic development study would complement the group when we get that strategy back as to where are we going with economic development which might suggest mixed zoning, the downtown and those areas. The master plan for community services is very relevant - where are we going with parks, green space, and recreational facilities. All those studies will intertwine and complement this."
Thomas said this new committee would consist of a maximum of 10 members and he would like to get it up and running within the next two to three weeks.