Pizza and lots of brainstorming were the focuses of a meeting Monday at Brennan Park Recreation Centre, where public consultation about what Squamish residents want in a revised Official Community Plan (OCP) continued.
About 40 people turned out for the two-and-a-half-hour District of Squamish evening event.
The workshop was the only public event in phase two of four in the year-long process to draft an updated OCP.
Phase one was visioning and included a January Squamish 2040 event attended by more than 350 residents at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park, where attendees shared their ideas for the future of Squamish.
“To date, the participation from this community has been absolutely stellar on this process,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman.
All told, 1,200 residents shared their ideas in phase one, according to the district. People expressed concerns about housing, growth, transit and land use.
Phase two is meant to be drilling down deeper into important issues and options.
“What we take out of phase two is we start to draft rough policy documents that we will then be pushing out to the community in parts,” said district general manager Gary Buxton.
Monday evening’s workshop consisted of three rounds of moderated and timed discussions with the themes of growing, thriving and resilience. Attendees moved to colour-coded tables that related to each theme. For example, the blue table was for discussing management of growth, red was for land use and built environment, and yellow was for resource management.
District communications manager Christina Moore said she wasn’t surprised fewer people turned out at this phase two event compared with phase one.
“We didn’t expect the same level of participation,” she said. “You cast the net wide at the beginning. It is kind of like a pyramid effect. You engage really high and broad at the top, and you know as it gets deeper and deeper, you are going to see less participation. This is quite a time commitment.”
Moore said the variety of ways to participate in the process should mean that the district hears from more than just a core group of dedicated, opinionated residents who turn out time and again.
“That helps to diversify the input,” she said. “Residents can have a private party with their own neighbours on an invitation-only basis and ensure that their feedback is provided,” she said.
Phase two includes the opportunity to host or attend a smaller pizza party and OCP workshop, with the district picking up the tab for the pizza.
Because participants don’t have to register, the district won’t know how many private events were held until the receipts for the pizza start rolling in. She added she knows of a few local not-for-profits that hosted such events. Have your say at squamish.ca/ocp for consultation options.
