An Official Community Plan (OCP) is the vision a community has for its future. It contains goals and policies that will shape future land use in a way that reflects the community's vision. These goals and policies form a framework used by the Regional Board, Regional District staff, other agencies and the community to guide their decisions about future land use.

Currently, Electoral Area G does not have an Official Community Plan in place.  This project aims to prepare and introduce the first OCP for Electoral Area “G”.

The Regional District Board of Directors adopted the Electoral Area "G" OCP Bylaw No. 2975 at its meeting of December 15, 2022 (please see links below under "RDOS Board Consideration").  The text and map schedules considered by the Board can now be accessed under the Regional Bylaws page (see "Planning" section): 

Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2975, 2022

In 2019, the Electoral Area "G" Director expressed an interest in the communities’ opinion on future land use and development to reflect the aspirations and goals for the next 20-25 years, as well as providing direction to respond effectively to referrals from other levels of government and agencies.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen then began to explore the idea of developing an Official Community Plan (OCP) for Electoral Area "G" and reached out to the community to explore the idea further.

A community engagement project was undertaken from August to October 2019 for the purpose of determining the level of community interest in developing an OCP under the Let’s Talk Land Use campaign.

Let’s Talk Land Use showed that there was interest in creating the first OCP for Electoral Area "G".

Focus Groups were held in March and April of 2022 and featured subject matter experts discussing the following topics: 

Open House events to answer questions related to the draft OCP Bylaw were held on the following dates:

A Citizen’s Committee composed of residents from Electoral Area "G" was formed in order to provide a forum for community input and to provide input on the drafting of an OCP for Electoral Area G.

Citizens Committee Meetings:

• Meeting No. 1 - March 8, 2021: Agenda / Minutes 
• Meeting No. 2 - April 19, 2021: Agenda / Minutes
• Meeting No. 3 - May 17, 2021: Agenda / Minutes
• Meeting No. 4 - June 21, 2021: Agenda / Minutes
• Meeting No. 5 - September 13, 2021: Agenda / Minutes
• Meeting No. 6 - October 14, 2021: Agenda / Minutes
• Meeting No. 7 - January 24, 2022: Agenda / Presentation / Minutes
• Meeting No. 8 - February 24, 2022: Agenda / Presentation / Minutes
• Meeting No. 9 - June 20, 2022: Agenda / Presentation / Minutes

Citizen's Committee - Terms of Reference

June 2021

Request for Proposals (2020-10-16)

Community Profile (October 2020)

Land Use Map (2020-10-15)

Land Use Map Insets (2020-10-15)

Award of Contract (2020-11-19)

Similkameen Watershed Plan

Strategy for a Sustainable Similkameen Valley

Protocol Agreement

Memorandum of Understanding

Local Government Act: www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14

About the RDOS: www.rdos.bc.ca/regional-government/what-we-do/what-we-do/

RDOS internet mapping link: www.rdos.bc.ca/information-services/mapping/

In 2019, the Let’s Talk Land Use campaign reached out to the community in Area G and had several successful events to engage the community on the issues, values and future vision of the area.  This included a survey and two open houses.

Hedley: Sept 11, 2019, at the Community Club, 956 Scott Avenue, from 5-8 pm; and

Keremeos: Sept 14, 2019, at the Victory Hall, 427 7th Avenue, from 1-4 pm.

Results of the community engagement indicated general support for developing a community vision that will help guide Electoral Area “G” for the next 20 or so years.  It is anticipated that the community will be eager to discuss the following issues which have been identified as topics of interest:

• Defining growth areas
• Use of ALR lands
• Hazard areas (floodplains, geotechnical hazardous areas and fire risk)
• Archeological sites
• Sensitive ecosystems
• Water quality and quantity of community watersheds
• Transportation corridors and access

Summaries of the survey results and engagement process are provided below.

Electoral Area “G” Let’s Talk Land Use” Summary Report

Electoral Area “G” Let’s Talk Land Use” Survey Results

planning@rdos.bc.ca