Some OCP Draft Thoughts

It has been interesting wrestling with the OCP. The OCP is a big deal and goes before the legislature for approval. Here are some of my observations and questions arising from this generation draft of our OCP.

• we seem to take planning for granted and we only notice when something doesn't work. for the record, there are things in Kindersley that don't work and that is the purpose of the OCP. I call this 'negative planning' in that it works to prevent conflict through the separation of conflicting uses such as residential use with some commercial use.
• the OCP is the overriding document for Kindersley and yet it is unable to address and provide for the full range of activities that we need to flourish. This is the 'positive planning' in contrast to the 'negative planning' in the sense of facilitating opportunities for both individuals, groups, and the town to flourish.
• doing the OCP is s-l-o-w. it started, I believe, in 2011.
• for a community to work and be healthy I think four ingredients are needed:
• care,
• commitment,
• enlightened self-interest (I could go on about Adam Smith on this), and
• love,
• is it right to measure the success of a community through:
• income,
• crime stats,
• cultural expressions,
• recreation stats,
• number of faith communities,
• number of civic groups,
• charitable donations,
• life expectancy,
• employment rate,
• post-secondary education,
• emergency room visits,
• population and building densities,
• commercial and industrial activity,
• building permits issued,
• food back usage,
• social agency stats and
• more,
• when:
• the success of a community depends on all of these in relation to one another?
• we try to be logical with the OCP but living in relationships such a family, friends, and towns like Kindersley is often irrational

Well, these are some of my thoughts