Official Community Plans Research Articles

Maximizing Biomass with Agrivoltaics: Potential and Policy in Saskatchewan Canada

Canada is a leading global agricultural exporter, and roughly half of Canada’s farmland is in Saskatchewan. New agrivoltaics research shows increased biomass for a wide range of crops. This study looks at the potential increase in crop yield and livestock in Saskatchewan through agrivoltaics along with its financial implications. Then, the legislation that could influence the adoption of agrivoltaics in Saskatchewan is reviewed. Specifically, experimental results from agrivoltaic wheat production are analyzed for different adoption scenarios. The impact of converting the province’s pasture grass areas to agrivoltaics and using sheep to harvest them is also examined. The results indicate that approximately 0.4 million more tons of wheat, 2.9 to 3.5 million more tons of forage and 3.9 to 4.6 million additional sheep can be grazed using agrivoltaics in Saskatchewan. Only these two agrivoltaics applications, i.e., wheat farmland and pastureland, result in potential additional billions of dollars in annual provincial agricultural revenue. The Municipalities Act and the Planning and Development Act were found to have the most impact on agrivoltaics in the province as official community plans and zoning bylaws can impede diffusion. Agrivoltaics can be integrated into legislation to avoid delays in the adoption of the technology so that the province reaps all of the benefits.

Assessing governability of agricultural systems: Municipal agricultural planning in Metro Vancouver, Canada

Effective governance of agricultural systems is needed for achieving goals of food security, resilient food systems, and addressing the impacts of climate change. Local governments have an increasing interest in the role of agriculture in meeting these goals. However, alignment varies greatly between local governing systems and agricultural systems. Governability is a measure of the degree to which a system can be governed for a set of specified purposes or goals. To test the limits of governability in relation to agricultural planning, we interviewed 22 agricultural planners from municipal, regional, and provincial government, and analyzed agricultural plans (n = 8) and Official Community Plans (n = 6) for six municipalities in Metro Vancouver, Canada to identify interactions between broader municipal governance, agricultural planning, and agricultural systems outcomes. Findings indicate that the governing system for agriculture in this region includes both mandated obligations (conservation of farmland) and voluntary obligations (economic development, advocacy, public awareness). Multiple limits to governing agricultural systems include the promotion and implementation of simple solutions to complex problems, limited ability to engage with the diversity of the agricultural sector and their different needs, and governance mismatches with the boundaries of agriculture (i.e., farm parcels, Agricultural Land Reserve area) and the administrative scale of the municipality. The discussion identifies specific areas where municipal governance systems could transition to improve agricultural outcomes such as farmland protection, farmer economic viability, and integration with broader food systems.

Municipal Policy Enabling Regional Food Systems in British Columbia, Canada: Assessing Focal Areas and Gaps

Local-regional food systems are increasingly the focus of community activism and local government planning in British Columbia (BC), Canada. At present, there is no provincial or federal govern­ment food system strategy to inform or guide local government policy efforts. To ascertain focal points of local government food system planning, we assessed current municipal Official Community Plans (OCPs) in BC and suggest areas for future policy development to enable regional food sys­tems in the province. In BC, an OCP is the most comprehensive, high-level municipal planning document used to guide future management and land use decisions. We reviewed OCPs from 61 municipalities (37% of BC’s municipalities) and categorized the food systems policy within accord­ing to a set of 13 topics and 53 subtopics. We report policy topic or subtopic frequency, ex­pressed as a percentage of municipalities (n=49). We also developed and applied a framework to identify policy gaps for enabling regional food systems. Policy addressing food access for resi­dents as well as policy supporting urban agriculture were identi­fied as the most prevalent food system policy foci in BC. Recognition of and support for Indigenous foodways, however, were scarcely addressed by existing food access policies. We identified gaps in regional food system policy regarding postproduc­tion capacity for regional markets, waste manage­ment, and environmental stewardship. We offer that fostering regional sys­tems requires coordinated policy efforts between jurisdictions and suggest that such coordination is particularly important and needed between urban and rural municipalities, which represent primary food-consuming and food-producing areas, respectively. This coordina­tion will require municipalities to expand food system policy efforts beyond their current urban agriculture focus, which has been criticized as having a limited capacity to address a number of pressing food system con­cerns. The framework we developed and applied can serve as a tool in other jurisdictions to assess current local government regional food system policy foci and identify areas for future policy development to enable regional food systems.

Active living in Saskatchewan: A review of official community plans.

Municipal policies may have a significant impact on the development of environments that provide sustainable opportunities for individuals to engage in healthy, active lifestyles. Little is known about how explicitly community planning in Canada integrates strategies to promote physical activity. In the context of Active Saskatchewan 2020 (AS2020), the strategic plan of Saskatchewan in motion, such an analysis would create a basis for identifying policy gaps and ongoing monitoring. The objective of this study was to review the official community plan (OCP) of each city in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada and identify policies supportive of physical activity. A conventional content analysis was completed of the OCPs of the 17 cities in Saskatchewan. Each OCP was reviewed and text extracted that related to supporting physical activity. Extracted text was thematically organized within and across cities, creating a set of indicators for ongoing monitoring. Overall, 17 indicators were identified. The frequency of inclusion of these indicators within the 17 OCPs varied from 17.6% to 82.4%. The mean frequency of indicators identified per OCP was 7.4. The most commonly included indicators included residential neighbourhood plans associated with active living, downtown cycling and pedestrian plans, and joint-use agreements between communities and schools. Most Saskatchewan OCPs make little direct reference to policies supportive of physical activity. Impacting community-level policy is an expected outcome of AS2020/Saskatchewan in motion. This study identifies a range of indicators for monitoring this process and highlights potential areas for policy development within OCPs.

Incorporating Novel Ecosystems and Layered Landscapes for Ecological Restoration in Cities

Ecological restoration in cities is problematic. The natural environment is radically altered with large areas of impervious surfaces, invasive species and a parallel artificial infrastructure for transporting water, waste and energy. There are also competing goals to meet the needs of people as identified in Official Community Plans. Cities are novel ecosystems and the restoration targets often do not align well with the natural ecosystems that historically existed in the area. The objective of this study is to use the University of Victoria campus as an example of urban restoration that incorporates novel ecosystems and takes a layered landscapes approach to address the complex socio-ecological histories of a site. Hobbs Creek and its ravine, Mystic Vale, are a particular focus. Instead of trying to restore the original fish-bearing stream and forest, the University of Victoria has used a novel ecosystem approach to set a suitable restoration target for an ecosystem that is capable of maturing, has a stable trajectory and is resilient. The university has an ongoing program of invasive species removal, reducing stream bank erosion and managing human impacts that is consistent with applying the layered landscapes concept, addressing the diverse values and visions of people as well as ecological integrity. In cities, the novel ecosystem approach acknowledges that complex socio-ecological histories of a site have shaped them over time and play a major role in determining a site’s future. Combining the layered landscapes perspective with the novel ecosystems concept as was done in this project is an effective approach to ecological restoration in cities.

Urban crops and livestock: The experiences, challenges, and opportunities of planning for urban agriculture in two Canadian provinces

While many municipalities globally are currently undertaking initiatives to support urban agriculture, policies and zoning regulations can act as barriers, with the former usually not integrated with planning. Extensive research has been conducted on urban agriculture policies in the global South, but much less is known about associated practices and policies in the global North. This is especially true for the Canadian context and therefore the present study aims at improving our overall understanding of the urban agriculture situation in two Canadian provinces. Relevant policies, such as official plans or official community plans, alternate policy documents and guidelines, zoning by-laws, and animal-related by-laws were reviewed for 10 municipalities in Ontario and in British Columbia, all varying in socio-economic and climatological characteristics. Additional key informant interviews were conducted with municipal planners, community garden coordinators, and other municipal staff familiar with urban agriculture policies from six of the selected municipalities.In line with global trends, our results suggest that urban agriculture is becoming more widespread in the two provinces. However, even though all studied municipalities consistently support urban agriculture, they vary significantly in their approach, with some municipalities focusing much more narrowly on certain types of activities than others. Overall, community advocacy and municipal council support are the most important drivers in the policy process. Key informants expressed a need to bridge existing gaps between policy adoption and implementation of tools, emphasize public education and public awareness, create inventories of land available for urban agriculture, incorporate urban agriculture in the development review process, and focus on the commercial potential of the practice. Encouragingly, despite the many challenges that need to be addressed, we found that many opportunities exist that municipalities could consider when creating improved local urban agriculture policies and tools to enhance the urban food system.

Evaluating the Quality of Official Community Plans in Southern British Columbia

This article evaluates the quality of forty official community plans in southern British Columbia, Canada, by administering a plan quality evaluation protocol based on those developed in previous studies. Results indicate that the plans are well crafted in laying out a vision for the future and specifying goals and policies to achieve the vision. Conversely, they are weak in features relating to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, which casts doubt on the extent to which their vision statements will be realized and goals achieved. Findings corroborate those of previous researchers regarding the lack of attention paid by municipalities to plan implementation.

Are we planning effectively for climate change? An evaluation of official community plans in British Columbia

Mounting evidence of global climate change encourages planning responses that seek to mitigate change and to adapt to changes considered to be inevitable. The province of British Columbia recently mandated that municipal official community plans (OCPs) contain targets and policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The authors use content analysis to evaluate mitigation and adaptation content in 39 OCPs, and find that 25 of the OCPs explicitly address climate change, and that the OCPs are stronger with respect to goals and policies than to fact base and implementation provisions. The paper concludes with recommendations for strengthening municipal climate change planning.

Examining municipal response to a provincial climate action planning mandate in British Columbia, Canada

The provincial legislature of British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, recently enacted Bill 27, which requires all municipal official community plans to contain greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and associated policies by the end of May 2010. While the legislation is unique by North American standards in its mandate, it lacks particular design features that scholars believe to be critical for fostering compliance. To examine municipal compliance with Bill 27, we address two research questions: what per cent of B.C. municipalities adopted targets by the legislated deadline, and which factors explain variation in target adoption across municipalities? To help answer these questions, we utilise univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (including mean comparisons and correlation analysis), and binary logistic regression analysis. We find that nearly two-thirds of municipalities adopted targets by the deadline, and that target adoption across municipalities varies with particular municipal characteristics. Our findings highlight the importance of crafting legislation in a strategic fashion in order to maximise effectiveness, and the potential need for provincial governments to target particular sub-populations for additional education and assistance regarding climate action planning. We suggest directions for future research, including additional analysis of the content of adopted targets and associated policies by B.C. municipalities.