The City of Nelson is entering the final phase of public engagement before adopting its new Official Community Plan (OCP), which will guide land use, housing, development and sustainability planning over the next 10 years.
Council gave first and second reading to the proposed plan Aug. 19.
A public hearing will be held in the fall, providing residents one last opportunity to give feedback before third reading and final adoption.
Municipalities are required to update their community plans every 10 years. Nelson’s current plan was adopted in 2013, and city staff began work on the new one in 2023.
“This is a pretty big moment after two and a half years of working on this project,” said city planner Alex Thumm.
Since the review process began, Thumm said more than 1,700 residents have taken part through surveys, workshops, meetings and outreach.
More than 4,700 people also visited the project’s website, and the draft document has been downloaded nearly 800 times, which Thumm noted is strong engagement for a city the size of Nelson.
“Bigger cities have less engagement per capita. Smaller cities tend to see more people getting engaged in their OCP process. So we’re at a very sort of normal level, I would say, of people who have been involved, which is a significant number of people.”
The 2025 plan has 15 guiding principles. In 2013, there were seven, focused mainly on environmental sustainability.
Thumm said the new plan reflects a wider vision, covering affordable housing, climate action, active transportation, infrastructure planning and Indigenous reconciliation.
“The 2013 OCP contains seven targets, which were all around sustainability and the environment. We’ve diversified a bit more to include targets around housing as well, infrastructure and reconciliation and transportation.”
Each principle reflects what residents highlighted as important in the engagement process.
Key changes in the updated plan include:
-
a stronger focus on reconciliation, with new sections on Indigenous history and collaboration
-
integration of the city’s Climate Action Plan, Nelson Next, into core policies
-
introduction of a “small-scale residential” land-use designation to support infill housing
-
a more flexible design-guideline section aimed at supporting creative developments
-
new and expanded housing targets, along with measures on infrastructure, sustainability and transportation
“Each policy has a clearly defined purpose- what it’s trying to do and where it’s trying to get us. We also highlight what guiding principles each policy supports, which helps tie the policy section back to the vision and to the guiding principles and foundational values, which is a feature we didn’t have before,” Thumm said.
The full draft plan, a summary of changes and background reports are available on the city’s website.
City staff were directed to begin scheduling the final round of public engagement, which Thumm said is expected in October, with details to be announced in the coming weeks.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyNelsonNow News Alerts.
