By Steve Hubrecht
Canal Flats has its strategic plan for the year in place.
The village’s 2023 priorities and strategic plan was unanimously adopted by the Canal Flats council during its meeting last week, on Monday, February 13, and the plan will be the subject of a town hall meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23 — the very day this issue of the Pioneer hits newsstands.
Village council and staff have been working on the plan since early December. The three top priorities it outlines are: a climate action strategy; resident attraction and retention and; attracting new business.
The climate action strategy is broken down into three primary objectives — emergency response and preparedness (which includes ensuring the village’s emergency management plan is followed and developing its fire smart program); making sure core infrastructure is protected (this includes dike improvements, dike maintenance plans, and doing a water study); and fostering a ‘green community’ (which includes expanding the trail network, reviewing boat use, and protecting the village’s foreshore)
The resident retention and attraction strategy encompasses several notable objectives, such as opening the Canal Flats medical clinic; improving the village’s parks and recreation plans (specifically by adding active living programs); building 10 to 12 affordable housing units in the next two years and; working with local developers to come up with some new live-work housing models.
The business attraction strategy includes appointing Canal Flats chief administrative officer, Richard Wayken, as the village’s chief technology officer; engaging with tech companies to highlight the village’s advantages as a location for tech entrepreneurs and workers and; forming an economic development committee.
Wayken explained to the Pioneer that various council members have each picked separate aspects of the plan which they are dedicating themselves to furthering. Justin Stanbury, for instance, is taking the lead on innovation and technology; Jennifer Noble is liaising with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and; mayor Mark Doherty is leading efforts to work with other municipalities.
“It’s great to have council so engaged,” said Wayken. “It really demonstrates their commitment to the plan.”
In terms of the climate action strategy, “B.C. is ground zero for climate change effects and that’s very true for Canal Flats, as it is the source of the Columbia River,” Wayken told the Pioneer. He pointed out that the Canal Flats dike protects not just local residents but also those living downstream on the Columbia River all the way to Golden.
With climate change increasing the risk of wildfires and of flooding, Canal Flats needs to be prepared to deal with such scenarios, outlined Wayken. “Wildfires and flooding are both high risk and high consequence events. We’ve seen what can happen with wildfires and with flooding in other parts of B.C., and in Alberta in recent years.”
Climate change also makes it more important than ever to safeguard the village’s water source. Canal Flats gets its water straight from a local aquifer and it is of such good quality that the village is one very few municipalities in western Canada that does not need to chlorinate its water. “It’s a top priority,” said Wayken.
For resident attraction and retention, Wayken pointed out that given the village’s demographics, “through the next four years, as we progress through the current council’s term, more than 50 per cent of Canal Flats will be age 55 or older. There are few young families here. We need that influx (of young families)… Businesses need them for long term stability.”
There’s double demographic trouble because not only does Canal Flats have few young families, it is also losing seniors, who are moving away to larger centres to be closer to the services and amenities those places offer. Medical services are a key example, and that’s why the village is very keen to get its planned medical clinic opened as soon as possible, explained Wayken.
Business attraction flows logically from resident attraction and retention, outlined Wayken. If there are more businesses, there will be more employment opportunities, more families and more services. Canal Flats is making a specific effort to attract 25- to 40-year old risk-taking, entrepreneurial types, as the village has several advantages that will appeal to this demographic such as a good fibre-optic network and great outdoor amenities.
The town hall meeting will function mostly as a public information session. Village council members will give a presentation, explaining the various priorities in further detail, and outlining some of the key projects that fall under each of the priorities. The mayor and councillors will take questions from residents after the presentation.
“Come on down. This is a new council. They’ve got fresh, great ideas. Council really wants to engage with the public and let them have input. This is an opportunity to do that,” said Wayken.
The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the Canal Flats Civic Centre.
