Official Community Plan

METCHOSIN'S

Metchosin’s Official Community Plan (OCP) is an essential document and planning instrument for maintaining the community’s rural nature.

The OCP is a bylaw and covers the following:

Community background and values
Important factors influencing the plan, such as population growth projections, development potential, economic interests, core waterways, natural values and protection priorities.
The District’s zoning structure. For example, lands set aside for agriculture, for residential development, for commercial uses, parks, and protected areas
Maps to confirm zoning and land use designations.

The environmental objectives of Metchosin's OCP are found in section 2.2 of the document and include:

To base land use decisions on the capability of the land to support various types, scales and intensities of use.
To promote the conservation of the biodiversity of the District - the variety of natural communities, native wild species and populations, and domesticated species and populations.
To maintain creeks, streams and inland wetlands in their natural state by minimizing the impact of development.
To maintain uplands, forested lands and areas with old growth Douglas Fir in their natural state, where these lands are not within the Forest Land Reserve, by minimizing the impact of development.
To manage marine shorelands in a manner compatible with the biological and physical processes acting on and within them.
To identify and preserve sensitive natural environments for future generations and to maintain sufficient lands in their natural state so that rare and diverse plant and animal life will continue to exist and flourish.
To preserve heritage sites for future generations.

To promote the restoration of land with no agricultural potential and/or previously degraded land to wildlife habitat.

The APRM will be actively involved in any forthcoming OCP review process.