North Cowichan is inviting residents to participate in a virtual dialogue session to help understand community character from the perspective of residents as part of the Official Community Plan Update Project.
The community dialogues will be held online on Tuesday, Jan. 26 from 1–2:30 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 7–8:30 p.m. Participants must register in advance and can do so by visiting the North Cowichan website to sign up at www.northcowichan.ca/OCP.
During these sessions, participants can expect to learn what community character means in the context of an OCP. There will also be a facilitated discussion and an exercise that will provide the opportunity to have a conversation about the places that make North Cowichan and its communities special.
Feedback gathered from these events, along with the interactive Community Character Survey which can be found on the North Cowichan website, will be used to compile community character profiles. Once completed, these profiles will inform the policy development process and be incorporated into the new OCP.
“We are trying to use a variety of methods to reach out to folks safely during this pandemic to ensure that we carry out meaningful community engagement to shape the OCP update,” noted Mayor Al Siebring. “I am excited to see these community dialogues happen. I hope people will take some time out of their busy schedules to have a conversation with our staff and OCP consultants so we can capture local knowledge and incorporate it into the OCP to inform future land use planning.”