Building Sustainable Communities 2013

Research Project

Community Sustainability Planning and Rural BC

The Fraser Basin Counciladvancing sustainability throughout BC

o 2005 Federal Gas Tax Agreement

o Clean air – Clean water – Reduce GHG’s

o Also established Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSP) across Canada

o In BC, all LG’s must show that they are applying the seven sustainability planning principles, in return for receiving their per capita gas tax funding.

Background

The Challenge

How does this ICSP ‘thing’ work for rural regional districts and small municipalities?

Research goals - to identify for rural BC:

1) what constitutes a successful ICSP process

2) what actions are suitable for a sustainability strategy

3) rural areas’ relationship with urban and provincial sustainability goals.

Defining ‘Rural’

For this research project, rural is defined as:

All the unincorporated areas within BC’s regional districts (except Metro Vancouver); and

All the regional districts’ municipalities (except those in Metro Vancouver) with pops of 10,000 or less.

Research Results - Highlights

ICSP Process (as of 2011-2012):

Completed 18.4%

Underway 19.2%

Not started 47.2%

Don’t know 15.2%  

Highlights – Successful Process

oUse in-house staff plus outside expertiseoDevelop own processoAdequate human and financial resourcesoFormal adoption of final documentsoCommunity participationoCommitment to implementationoSupport from elected officials and community leaders

Highlights – Actions forRural Strategies

#1. Protecting drinking water supplies

#2. Pursuing economic diversification

#3. Supporting locally owned small businesses

#3. Encouraging health and social well-being

Highlights – Factors in Choosing Actions

Very important/Important:oSupport from elected officials and community leadersoAccess to fundingoCosts of implementation

Less/Not ImportantoHelps urban areas in my regional district and/or provinceoProximity to urban areasoContribution to provincial sustainability goals

Highlights: Level of Realism for Implementing Sustainability Strategy Actions

Focus Groups Highlights

Definition of sustainability is same; crucial differences:specific challenges or issuesapplication of conceptsimplementation and best practicesbenchmarks and indicators

Rural strategies would be different in: values content specificlifestyle implementation

Focus Groups Highlights

Strategies – priority topics:

Health care

Education

Transportation

Economic development

Issue Specific Findings

Agricultural land, local food, and rural/urban sprawl

Important actions to include in a strategy

Implementing these actions seen as somewhat, less, or not realistic

“The plan has to be believable and the public has to believe that it can be accomplished.” Questions? Comments?

Thanks to Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions

Further Information

Joan Chess, MCIP, RPPResearch Project ManagerandProgram Manager, Smart Planning for Communities

jchess@fraserbasin.bc.ca

1-250-612-0282