Village of Masset Integrated Official Community Plan

The Village of Masset, located in the Haida Gwaii archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, is surrounded by natural beauty, but faces challenges in environmental sustainability. In response to the community’s desire to protect the land and become more sustainable, Masset Council decided to update its official community plan (OCP) to integrate key strategies and actions of a sustainable neighbourhood action plan (SNAP). The Village’s current OCP targets will help broaden the plan’s ability to provide long-term direction and guidance that integrates the environment with social and economic systems into a set of comprehensive goals and actions. The Integrated Official Community Plan (IOCP)/SNAP will use The Natural Step (TNS) as a guiding methodology in the plan’s development. TNS evaluates the interdependence of multiple factors in sustainability, with the aim to create a long-term vision with specific goals and actions to reach that vision. With the assistance of TNS’s Backcasting* tool, a SWOT analysis will identify gaps in current versus projected visions, as well as priority actions and targets. Each action will identify specific leads, timelines, and estimated costs, and they will as a whole address energy, waste and water management, sustainable transportation, land use, and local economic development. Examples of actions that may be considered include the establishment of a re-use-it centre that helps to fund social services, as well as the inclusion of renewable sources for the Village’s energy needs. TNS also accounts for decision-making and indicator-tracking tools in the reporting of objectives and actions. In terms of public engagement, an Advisory Committee composed of stakeholders and partner organizations, including the neighbouring Haida First Nation, will help guide the planning process as well as contribute to the action plan implementation. There will be public engagement opportunities through open events, stakeholder action planning workshops, on-line surveys, and regular updates on the Village website and social media channels. *A planning method that starts with defining a desirable future and then works backwards to identify actions that will connect the future to the present. (Project description from original funding application)