A small but engaged group of residents attended on open house to discuss the update of Cache Creek’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and Zoning Bylaw on May 15.
An OCP is the document that outlines the long-term vision of a community, and how it will grow and evolve over time. It shapes decisions about housing, roads and utilities, business and industrial development, parks, local services, and more.
It works hand-in-hand with the Zoning Bylaw, which puts the OCP into action by regulating how land can be used and developed. It outlines what can be built where within a community (eg. residential, commercial, and industrial zones) and what that will look like (eg. housing density or building height).
The province recently provided local governments with funding to update their OCPs and Zoning Bylaws, and Cache Creek CAO Damian Couture says that the timing worked in the village’s favour.
“We had also received funding to do work on our Floodplain Bylaw, and had engaged TRUE Consulting to do that. They were well underway on that process, and deep into the OCP and Zoning Bylaw because the Floodplain Bylaw ties in to both, and they were rewriting big sections of both anyway.”
The village’s current OCP dates back to 2013, but Couture says the general opinion of council was not to throw it out the window and start from scratch, but rather to update and modernize it, and let TRUE incorporate the Floodplain Bylaw as part of the project.
“The bones [of the OCP] were good, but it needs some massaging. The intent is where it needs to be, but some of the language might not carry that intent.”
He adds that while they aren’t expecting substantial changes to the OCP, one exception is when it comes to addressing the threat of disasters. He notes that every single disaster which has hit the village in recent memory has taken place since the OCP was last updated; something not reflected in the document as it stands right now.
“The slope map in the old OCP looks like it belongs on the wall in the Louvre. It’s very artistic, but it’s not a readable or effective map of where the hazards are in Cache Creek. We’re updating the mapping using current mapping technology, and another benefit is that these will be digital assets. We’ll be able to do a lot with them and have options we didn’t have before. We’re modernizing it and recognizing where we are now and the lessons learned, as opposed to where we were 12 years ago.”
Like most communities in B.C., Cache Creek recently updated its Housing Needs Assessment, and Couture says that housing is part of the larger OCP and Zoning Bylaw discussion. The assessment noted that Cache Creek needs to build 80 units of housing over the next five years, and 223 units over the next 20 years, to meet projected needs and demand.
“We’ve built 10 units in the last five years, so we’re not hitting the mark," says Couture. "Previous councils did make changes to the Zoning Bylaw to allow secondary suites, and management and caretaker suites, so we’ve been bringing that forward for a little while.
“People in the community are thinking and talking about more allowances for higher density, about seniors’ housing and affordable housing, so we’re working with skilled experts in the field who have seen what worked and what didn’t work in other communities. They can suggest what would work for us and if we can incorporate that in our town.”
In addition to housing, hazard areas were a big topic at the open house, and Couture says work is being done on making it clear what has to be done in order to develop those areas. “If we know of an area that has a very steep slope, we can say upfront what will be needed in order to build there. It will make it a lot clearer for people.”
Zoning is another area that is being looked at, with Couture noting that some areas of the village have historically been used for certain things but aren’t zoned correctly for those uses. “We want the rules to be fair for people who are already here, but there’s been talk around the question of ‘Does what we have make sense?’ ”
Couture adds that those who were unable to attend the open house are encouraged to fill in a survey, which is open until May 29 and available online at https://bit.ly/3SH5pN4; paper copies can also be obtained at the village office. He adds that while the survey is a big part of community engagement, they’re still at the beginning of a long process, with more meetings and public consultation to come.
“There will be more discussion on this. We’re just getting started, so if someone hasn’t had the opportunity to participate there will be more opportunities.”
