e-KNOW editorial

Last Friday the Regional District of East Kootenay passed the Baynes Lake Official Community Plan (OCP) and the South Country Zoning Bylaw, thereby establishing a planning document for the area.

It wasn’t an easy process, as over the two-year period it took to compile information and write the documents, with heated public meetings and hearings, there came a form of division in the community as some passionately opposed the notion of an OCP, while others supported it.

That’s normal. Most communities tend to experience a pull back and a rise up when government appears at their door, stating that more rules and regulations need to be applied to their given area. Balking at and opposing government wishes is as Western Canadian as hating Toronto.

Electoral Area B director Heath Slee said it was a difficult process at times because some residents simply viewed the OCP as a form of restrictive document designed to make their lives more difficult, and expensive. In fact, a well-written OCP creates the exact opposite set of instances for communities.

OCPs are put into place to give government, in this case the best form of government we have – local – guidelines from which to work when it comes to zoning and other regular duties performed by regional and municipal leaders. That’s it.

They also provide guidelines for residents to ensure their communities move forward with cohesion, sense and in many cases, a desirable style.

Without OCPs, development tends to occur in higgledy-piggledy fashion, with examples all over the East Kootenay to mull over.

Planning documents and strategies give elected officials and administrators clear, official information to hand over to would-be developers and can help propel a community forward in an organized manner. They cut down on the volume of time that can be wasted by members of the public and government officials as they wrangle back and forth and can curb potentially explosive or divisive clashes within communities, such as what was witnessed during the Baynes Lake OCP process.

When the RDEK proceeded with the OCP for the East Side of Lake Windermere – a process that was a decade behind the ‘best before’ date for happening – there was some discontentment and paranoia. The fact is, again, many folks just don’t like being told by government what they must consider or do. See also: the HST.

When municipalities in the region have re-visited OCPs, which should be done every decade or so to reflect the often sweeping changes and attitudes that can occur in our still relatively young communities, there are always those who rise up against them.

In a way, that opposition is a good thing, as it forces government to take a really hard look at things, when an ‘easy’ process may result in vital things being missed.

Slee told e-KNOW this week that he hopes the Baynes Lake community can now go back to its regular self and he believes healing will take place. In his fourth term as an electoral area director, Slee has seen his share of public discontent and appreciation and he knows things always settle back down. By many accounts, they already have.

People get beyond the ‘maybe scenarios’ that are painted by some folks who oppose legislation telling them how their communities will proceed into the future. In time, many who oppose the OCPs experience, firsthand, how an effective document can spare them from grief when a new neighbour comes along who seeks to build something offensive or attempts to launch a business from their property that will completely alter the flow of life in a given area.

Western Canadians, as a rule, don’t like ‘too much government.’ And for good reason. But in the case of an OCP, it is ‘good’ government that is being given a chance to occur, as opposed to ‘reactive’ government, which is rarely effective.

The Baynes Lake area, like the rest of the Lake Koocanusa portion of this region, is under a great deal of growth pressure from would-be recreationalists carving out their pieces of the Rocky Mountain paradise pie.

While there appears to be little the senior levels of government can do to address the squatting and environmental carnage that is occurring along the shores of Lake Koocanusa, short of a major boost in law enforcement positions, the RDEK can, and has, taken steps to ensure that development continues to occur in developed areas (let’s forget about their ill-advised Jumbo move for now). Last week the board went against what appeared to be the wishes of the majority in the Fernie area and shot down a proposed ‘affordable housing’ project outside the city’s boundaries, because of a previously embraced Smart Growth Strategy.’ It was a tough decision for the board and it didn’t come easy, as it was an eight to seven vote that decided it.

But that is what leadership is all about. Leaders don’t always go with what is popular. Good leaders do what is right. While that would mean doodle squat to the would-be developers and supporters of the rural Fernie project, or to those who opposed the Baynes Lake OCP, time will tell.

And had OCPs been in place in such places as the East Side of Lake Windermere, or along Lake Koocanusa or rural Fernie, it is more than likely that some poorly placed and ill-advised development would not have occurred.

Planning is key for all of us in the East Kootenay. Whether you like it or not, development will continue to happen because we live in one of the most desirable mountain paradises in the world. The economic woes being experienced in the world will, as they always do, pass by and new eras of ‘progress’ will take place again and we’re going to be faced with renewed pushes by those with the land and the money to create their own magical kingdoms of profit and landscape alteration.

Things such as OCPs give our elected officials and government employees ways to control that growth and that is a good thing.

Finally, people need to realize that OCPs are not mountain-top retrieved laws written in stone. They are living documents that can be and are changed.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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