Trilogy at Cumberland: Listening to the Village, Learning from the Land

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MUNICIPAL PROCESS SECTION

The OCP is a Vision Statement

Cumberland's Official Community Plan sets out the goals and objectives of the community and as such, is the Village's most significant document related to future growth and development. While the OCP has been adopted as a bylaw, it is not a regulatory bylaw --- under the Local Government Act, it is classed as a "policy statement" rather than as a regulatory instrument.

Under Section 884 of this Act, an Official Community Plan does not "commit or authorize a municipality to proceed with any project that is specified in the OCP, but it does require that any bylaws enacted after its adoption (including amendments) are consistent with its policy guidelines. Council is required to consider all applications to amend the OCP or its zoning bylaws under Section 895, as well as to define the procedure for amendment to the land owner.

Amending the Official Community Plan

When a proposed development varies from the land uses prescribed in the Official Community Plan (as Trilogy's proposal does) a formal process of OCP amendment is initiated by the developer as his first step in the formal municipal process.

Prior to Trilogy presenting its Master Plan to the community, it conducted a series of public information meetings to explain its process and its thinking to the citizens. Its application to amend the OCP was based on the following considerations:

• The amount of Commercial that the OCP outlines east of the Highway is larger than the size of the Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo, which is the largest shopping centre on the Island. Woodgrove services 143,000 people in Nanaimo alone; whereas the entire Comox Valley trading area is presently estimated at 63,000.
  
  In Trilogy's estimation, this amount of commercial development would be in opposition to the Village's "small town" character, even if it followed the guidelines set out by the OCP.
• The cost of infrastructure required to service the lots is not be able to be paid for by Commercial development only. It realizes less gross profit for the developer, out of which the infrastructure is paid for.
• Commercial development commands a higher tax rate for the Village, but because of its lower value per square foot will generate less actual revenue than a combination of Residential and Commercial.

For further explanation, please refer to the Questions & Answers link in the left sidebar.

Trilogy's OCP Amendment applications are now complete!

The first Public Hearing to amend the OCP for Lots 1-11 was held on October 28, 2006. Because of the scale and complexity of the amendment, Council requested that Trilogy re-submit its application in 3 separate sections, beginning with Lots 2 through 8.

The Lot 2-8 amendment was proposed as Bylaw 842 in December of 2006, and was granted 4th reading in February of 2007. The original OCP amendment for Lot 9A progressed to 3rd reading, but was later rolled over into Bylaw 901, which includes proposed amendments to Lots 2, 3, 5, 7, 8A,10 and 11 as well.

On February 8, 2010, all Trilogy's proposed OCP amendments were officially granted 4th Reading. Under Bylaw 901, Cumberland's Residential Containment Boundary as outlined in its Official Community Plan will be expanded to include Lots 2, 3, 5, 7, 9A, 10 and 11. Under Bylaw 851, Lot 9B is also included in this boundary.

TRILOGY

Suite 1268, 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6C 2B5
Telephone: 604-684-5858; Fax: 604-684-5859

info@trilogyproperties.com
www.trilogyproperties.com