You probably remember that City Council formed a committee to address the nitty-gritty of how to actually implement Plan-It not long after Plan-It was passed last September. I was one of two citizen representatives appointed to that illustrious (?!) committee that has since met 10 times to identify implementation issues, as well as some solutions. The report of the Plan-It Implementation Committee will go to City Council on Wednesday February 17. I encourage you to have a look at the documents and if you are so inclined send your comments to Alderman Dianne Colley-Urqhardt (chair of the Land Use, Planning, and Transportation sub-committee of City Council), copying all other members of Council and the mayor. Unfortunately the city website doesn’t seem to provide a direct link to the documents, but you can find them by going to the page for agendas and minutes (http://publicaccess.calgary.ca/lldm01/livelink.exe?func=ccpa.recentagenda#LPT), then scroll down to the LPT agenda for Feb 17.
From the perspective of someone who’s been sitting on the Implementation Committee I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well the committee has worked and with the decisions made by the committee. It’s been better than I had imagined possible. Of course it’s up to you to comment as you see fit, but I would encourage you to frame any comments you send to Council in a generally positive and supportive way. I believe the best way to move Plan-It forward at this point is to demonstrate to Council that Plan-It implementation is going well and that there is indeed broad support for Plan-It. To the extent Council hears the message that Plan-It implementation is moving forward and is supported, Council will be more likely to embrace Plan-It and give it the support it needs.
Just a couple points of information: the Implementation Committee’s work has focused primarily on 1) implementation issue identification, and 2) resolving the uncertainties that need to be resolved before the plan takes effect on April 1. There are still many important “big picture” issues to address and these will be tackled primarily by a “Sustainment Committee” that should be appointed by City Council in the coming months. There is some lack of clarity regarding the role of citizen consultation in the current terms of reference for the Sustainment Committee, but Alderman Hawkesworth (the chair of the Implementation Committee) will suggest an amendment to the terms of reference for the Sustainment Committee providing for an annual public forum on sustainment issues. Alderman Hawkesworth will introduce this amendment at the beginning of the LPT meeting on the 17th.
If you want to actually attend the LPT meeting and comment there, it will be held Wednesday February 17, 9:30 am, in the Engineering Traditions Room of (old) City Hall. The Implementation Committee documents will be first up at 9:30. Unfortunately I will be out of town and unable to attend, but I hope lots of CivicCamp members can lend their voices in support of the efforts to successfully implement Plan-It. Calgary has a long history of developing good plans that fall short on implementation. This time the City is making a real effort to get implementation right so Plan-It can become our future and not just another dusty document.
Byron Miller
