The City of Yellowknife is about to go through its community plan from top to bottom, with staff promising to keep things that work well and change things that don’t.
The community plan is a 100-page document that City Hall has called a “road map” for how Yellowknife will be developed over a 20-year period.
It was given a major overhaul in 2020 and is now back on the table.
City planning director Charlsey White told council this week a “comprehensive review” is beginning.
“We’ll take a look at all the policies that are in there: keep the ones that are working, that are good; add ones that we think we need … or remove those that maybe are ineffectual, and work to update them to make sure we’re getting the best policy,” White said.
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Staff are aiming to have a community plan and associated bylaws that “are working effectively to get the kinds of development, growth, social services – everything that we need in our community – working together,” she added.
The detail of how exactly the review will work has yet to be announced, because it hasn’t started yet. This week’s discussion acted as more of a heads-up that it’s coming.
White promised multiple opportunities for residents to have their say.
Routinely, when residents complain about a specific development or changes being made in a certain region of the city, elected officials say public engagement about the community plan is where that feedback should have gone. The community plan is what sets out the ground rules for how each area of the city will evolve and what kind of development will be allowed there.
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With that in mind, Mayor Rebecca Alty asked at a Monday meeting about opportunities for the public to get involved in this review.
“Part of any planning process, especially when developing public policy, is to have those community engagements – and not just as a one-off,” said White in response.
“The community plan isn’t a six-months-and-done type of project. There will probably be more than just one opportunity for the public to participate, in addition to the statutory public hearing that council will have.”
Deputy mayor Garett Cochrane said reviewing the plan and associated efforts will be “some of the most important work that we do during this term.”
“I know it’s a lot of the reason why a lot of us even stepped up to run in the first place. It hits a whole bunch of council strategic directions, and I can’t wait for that community plan review,” Cochrane said.
City staff are embarking on various other pieces of work that will help shape how Yellowknife evolves in the coming years.
A housing policy is being drawn up, as is a document that will govern how transportation is planned in Yellowknife. (That document is where the city has said future efforts to better protect cyclists might be considered.)
A climate action plan is also being launched.
“We’re moving forward with that plan for the next 10 years,” said White. “There’s going to be lots of public input, council as well as other agencies, internal, external – lots of conversations coming forward on that.”
