Environmental policies in OCP
By Colten Kamlade, Staff reporter
The City of New Westminster is hosting a party on October 30 in celebration of their new Official Community Plan (OCP). According to the city’s website, the plan has been in the works for a long time.
“After 3 years, 15 open houses, booths at 7 community events, 11 workshops, 5 online surveys, numerous meetings with community members, 36 presentations to City committees, and 18 reports to Council, we have reached the end of the update of the Official Community Plan!” The OCP webpage reads.
The document is over 200 pages long, and its policies cover community and individual well-being, culture, economy and employment, energy, emissions and climate change, environment and natural areas, hazard management, heritage, housing, parks and recreation, public realm and urban design, transportation and accessibility, and utilities, services, and infrastructure.
A large section of the document is dedicated to environmental policies, which include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
“The City’s target for 2030 is to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent,” the OCP document states. The City plans to do this by reducing the use of environmentally damaging transportation. “The City’s Master Transportation Plan and Community Energy and Emissions Plan endeavor to improve transportation choices for local residents while reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions,” the document continues.
The OCP also states that they will be implementing measures to ensure buildings are more energy efficient.
“The City can influence energy use and GHG emissions in the built environment by establishing policy direction, zoning requirements and development permit guidelines for new buildings with respect to energy efficiency, and it can inspect buildings for compliance,” the document states.
The City also plans to support renewable energy. “Identifying viable opportunities for neighbourhood renewable energy systems in the city is one of the implementation priorities from the Community Energy and Emissions Plan,” the OCP document reads. More specifically, the document claims that “a renewable district heating system that will serve Royal Columbian Hospital, as well as larger residential and commercial buildings near Sapperton and Braid SkyTrain Stations and along East Columbia Street, is in the initial stages of implementation.”
Furthermore, the OCP is planning on focussing on improving and protecting green spaces.
“The City aims to preserve and connect open space and environmentally sensitive areas and to maximize opportunities for community members to access and engage with the natural environment,” the documents states.
It goes on to claim that the city plans to “protect, enhance and connect natural habitat areas and ecological systems, including the Fraser River, Brunette River, Glenbrook Ravine and large treed parks.”
