Creating a municipal plan a painstaking process

I write further to Maggie Burton’s letter to the editor (“Show us the plan”) on May 25. In her letter, Ms. Burton raises valid questions about the progress of “Envision St. John’s,” our new municipal plan and development regulations.

Our review of the 2003 St. John’s Municipal Plan got underway in 2012 after initial preparatory work in 2011. The groundwork was laid by city staff, working under council directives and with the overview of council’s Planning and Development Committee. We engaged a consultant to help draft the new plan as well as engage the public in finding out their desired outcomes for our future city. The draft plan was brought to council and publicly released in 2014.

Our next stage was to revamp the 1994 St. John’s development regulations to implement the new plan. We engaged the same consultant, who prepared a draft set of regulations (to get an idea of the scope of the work, our current regulations run approximately 200 pages, plus maps).

We reviewed the draft regulations and realized that they would

“We are working to bring the complete document to council’s Planning and Development Committee in June 2017.”

not meet our needs. Many aspects of planning and development are similar across Newfoundland and Labrador municipalities, but some aspects are different for St. John’s due to our larger size, older neighbourhoods and historical development patterns. The draft needed extensive reworking and we began doing that at the staff level, which is not an easy task. Each regulation must be examined to ensure its effectiveness, and new regulations must be developed to ensure a balance of legal enforceability and practicality.

At present we have a nearly complete set of new development regulations, which are being vetted by staff in the legal department and in the planning, development and regulatory services department. We are working to bring the complete document to council’s Planning and Development Committee in June 2017.

Our timeline going forward has to accommodate the summer season, when citizens are often on holidays, as well as the municipal election in September. Details of the implementation schedule are available on the city’s website. While the present council may adopt in principle the new regulations, the next council will approve the new municipal plan and development regulations.

I agree completely with Ms. Burton that our municipal plan matters. It does indeed set the ground rules for all construction and development and allows us to define the “big picture.” That is exactly why it must be done correctly. We must do the proper analysis and consider each regulation in concert with the plan as a whole. It cannot be rushed.

I thank Ms. Burton for her questions and I look forward to completing this very important project.

Mayor Dennis O’keefe City of St. John’s