Share your voice!

January 2025
Public Engagement
Help shape Nelson's Future!

Share your voice: the next round of public engagement (release of the draft OCP update) will be launched here on January 22nd, 2025.

More to come, stay tuned.

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OCP Update E-Panel

OCP Update Overview

The Official Community Plan (OCP) is Nelson's compass for growth and change. It guides the decisions we make today on how we design our neighbourhoods, the ways we move around, how we use our land, and the amenities the City provides to get us to our collective vision for the future.

Nelson's current OCP was adopted in 2013 and it is receiving a holistic update for the first time in over 11 years. The OCP Update will ensure that the OCP policies reflect the current collective vision for Nelson in 2050, that outdated or completed policies are removed, and that today's issues and best practice are considered.

OCP Update Timeline

The project is divided into five phases and is expected to wrap-up in early 2025 with OCP adoption.

Phase
One

Phase
Two

Phase
Three

Phase
Four

Phase One: Project Scoping commenced in Spring 2023. This phase involved scoping the project’s deliverables, identifying required resources and drafting some high level intentions such as a project engagement strategy and the Three Guiding Principles framework. Phase One also asked the public to submit applications to be on the OCP Advisory Committee.

During Phase Two: Visioning, the OCP Update team conducted public engagement to develop a collective vision statement. Feedback from engagement was analysed for themes and the themes were consolidated into Four Foundational Values. The Four Foundational Values were combined with the Three Guiding Principles to craft a vision for Nelson in 2050. Read more in the Phase Two What We Heard & Crafted Report.

The Nelson 2050 Vision is being implemented in Phase Three: Policy Review & Development as the project team evaluates the current OCP policies. Public engagement (in the form of surveys, open houses, and in-person and online workshops for the public) was held from May to July 2024.

We have been working hard to bring all the pieces together to create a first draft of the updated OCP for public review, released on January 22nd, 2025.

OCP Update Process

Updating the Official Community Plan entails:

Completing technical analysis and studies
Adapting the 2013 OCP to today's context, priorities, needs, and legislative requirements
Ensuring policy alignment with the new vision, values, principles, and policy objectives, as well as with our existing plans and strategies
Reviewing and adapting best practice (successful ideas borrowed from other cities)
Making the OCP as readable, clear, and concise as possible
Identifying the community's aspirations and diverse needs and ensuring that the updated OCP reflects what the community wants Nelson to become
Providing opportunities for the public to provide feedback to ensure that we are leading the way to 2050 together

The Nelson 2050 Vision

The OCP Update's Nelson 2050 Vision

Our welcoming, heritage-rich mountain town is committed to community well-being by prioritizing equity, health and climate resilience. All Nelsonites are able to find affordable housing, live in walkable neighbourhoods, access efficient cost-effective transit, and meaningfully participate in public life. Our collective choices make us climate leaders, safeguarding and regenerating our ecological, economic and social systems for future generations. Art, education, diverse cultures, reconciliation and recreation enrich our daily lives, infusing our community with an active, healthy and creative spirit that respects and appreciates the land we call home.

The Nelson 2050 Vision was crafted by using the process illustrated below. The Four Foundational Values (representing public feedback) and the Three Guiding Principles (representing best practice) were combined.

Diagram 2050 Vision Crafting - OCP Update (6).png

The What We Heard & Crafted Report details the themes heard from Fall 2023 Visioning public engagement and how they were consolidated into the values. For more details on what each Foundational Value represents, read the Expanded Vision in the Snapshot section of the report.

The Four Foundational Values

Summer 2023 Public Engagement
Re-cap

Phase Two public engagement ended on September 17, 2023 - thank you to everyone who engaged on the Nelson 2050 Vision! Read the Phase Two What We Heard & Crafted Report below to learn about the processes used to collect public feedback, analyse the feedback heard and craft the vision statement.

Download the report PDF.

Watch the report presentation to the Committee of the Whole on November 21st. The presentation starts at 46:00min.

Spring 2024 Public Engagement
Re-cap

Phase Three public engagement took place in Spring/Summer 2024.

Read the Phase Three What We Heard Report below to learn about the engagement that took place and the feedback we heard from you.

Download the report PDF

OCP Update Advisory Committee

Committee Members

The committee consists of 12 members of the public and 3 members of City Council. The Committee meets regularly and is used as a sounding board to ensure the processes used to update the OCP and engage the public are robust. The Committee promotes public engagement opportunities through their professional and personal networks.

Resources

The current year-2013 City of Nelson Official Community Plan can be read by clicking here.

1-Pager Series

The 1-Pager series explores concepts relevant to the OCP. Share them with your networks and get discussing what considerations you think are needed.

Videos

Infill housing optimizes land use, promotes housing affordability, supports sustainability, and creates vibrant, walkable neighborhoods by redeveloping existing urban areas instead of expanding outward. Nelson is a small-community leader for infill housing ¹ and the Official Community Plan Update will ensure that the OCP policies are sufficient to guide the development of infill housing and achieve our collective vision of Nelson in 2050.

1-Pager Infill Housing - OCP Update City of Nelson 20230928 (1)_Page_1.jpg

As the service, employment, and shopping hub of the region, most people who live within a 15min to 1hr drive come into Nelson on a regular, often daily, basis. The more regional growth we can accommodate within the city limits, means there are more opportunities for commutes and errands to be accomplished by foot, bike, and transit. The more people who work in Nelson, but live out-of-town, then the more likely it is that they will be entirely car-dependent increasing Nelson’s traffic and parking demand. The Official Community Plan provides policies for a transportation network that is safe, sustainable, efficient, accessible, and aligned with the community's values.

By 2050, projections from the forthcoming 2024 Housing Needs Report say we can expect 4,020 more Nelsonites (an increase of 35% from our 2023 population) and 2,125 more households (a 42% increase from 2023). The Official Community Plan Update presents the opportunity to think about how we can minimize the inconveniences of growth and maximize the benefits for Nelsonites. We need to ensure that housing options are accessible to all by meet people’s budgets, provide the appropriate number of bedrooms, and ensure that the housing is safe and in good condition. While at the same time, thinking about the environment and our community’s capacity to service a growing population.

Nelson’s Official Community Plan has addressed climate change since 2008 and our city’s policies have only become more ambitious with the passing years as climate change impacts continue to increase. In 2018, we committed to become a 100% renewable energy community by 2050 as part of the West Kootenay 100% Renewable Energy Working Group. In 2020, Council unanimously approved Nelson Next, our most ambitious and comprehensive climate action plan yet. As we update the OCP we should consider the direction from Nelson Next and decide how its aspirations can be strengthened through OCP incorporation.

Pages from 1-Pager Climate Action - OCP Update (3).jpg

We all value Nelson’s heritage buildings and feel. History shows that taking built heritage for granted is a mistake: without protections and other initiatives, a neighbourhood’s heritage can slowly be eroded as, one by one, buildings are modified without regard for their heritage value, or even demolished or left to decay. Nelsonites have fought hard to ‘uncover’ and protect heritage buildings after years of neglect. Conservation requires a great deal of expertise, devotion, and dialogue with the community in order to establish what we mean by heritage and how far we are willing to go to protect it.

When we think of Nelson and nature, the vast forests and mountains that surround the city probably come to mind first. But that doesn’t mean that our municipal parks and recreation services are any less important: whether it’s playgrounds, indoor facilities like the NDCC, Lakeside Park and its beach, or one of the several neighbourhood parks that allow you to go for a stroll within walking distance of home, it’s important to properly plan for parks and recreation, particularly as our population grows.

Parks Recreation One-Pager Screenshot.PNG

OCP Update FAQ

FAQ

Download the FAQ: version February 9, 2024