Water-Centric Planning

“The partnership umbrella provided by the Water Sustainability Action Plan has allowed the Province to leverage partnerships to greatly enhance the profile and resulting impact of Living Water Smart. In effect, the Action Plan partners are functioning as the on-the-ground Living Water Smart implementation arm with local government, allowing my team to focus on legislative reform. Living Water Smart comprises 45 commitments grouped into five themes. The Action Plan has played a key delivery role in two of the five,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.

Published in March 2002 by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the “Watershed / Landscape-Based Approach to Community Planning” was developed by an interdisciplinary working group and is the genesis of “water-centric planning”. “An important message is that planning and implementation involves cooperation among all orders of government as well as the non-government and private sectors,” stated Erik Karlsen.

“Originally, this COI was to be called Watershed-Based Planning for consistency with the community planning element of the Water Sustainability Action Plan. However, federal and provincial funding enabled us to broaden the scope of the COI to encompass a spectrum of perspectives, ranging from provincial watershed planning to local government community planning. This expanded scope is an ambitious undertaking. We are excited by the challenges that integration of perspectives involves,” stated Robyn Wark.

As each new generation inherits the world, vital knowledge is forgotten. Generational amnesia has profound effects on the way that we see the world. The challenge is to overcome generational amnesia so that communities learn from past experience, apply this knowledge, and achieve better policy and financial outcomes. Peter Steblin provides a perspective on how elected councils and local government staff can function effectively to arrive at affordable and effective solutions to challenges. He says, “Staff gives good advice and council makes the decision. The operative phrase is a respect-based relationship.”

“The biggest takeaway from our conversation with Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern concerns the ‘what, how and who’ as the current leadership of the Partnership looks ahead to pass the baton.. Using the Partnership’s Ambassadors Program as the example of WHAT; – this was the breakthrough to articulate our need for succession planning and sustainability of the network. The WHO now becomes obvious because it is the ambassadors themselves. The HOW is now clear too, by looking back at what we were successful with in the past,” stated Derek Richmond.

“We have managed assets for decades and understand what that is and what we are doing. Suddenly we took two very simple words, reversed them, and went from managing assets to asset management. The result? We confused everyone. Section 7 of the Community Charter defines the roles and responsibilities of local government in terms of ‘care of infrastructure and services’. In other words, Sustainable Service Delivery. This goes to the heart of affordable and sustainable re-investment in municipal infrastructure assets to meet a level-of-service desired by the community,” stated Wally Wells.

In British Columbia, local governments must show how they are progressing along the Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery continuum. “Money – it should be about how to get the most value out of every dollar spent on municipal infrastructure. Too often, thinking stops after the capital investment is made. Yet everyone needs to be thinking in terms of life-cycle costs, including future recapitalization of the investment,” stated Glen Brown. Section 7 of the Community Charter defines the roles and responsibilities of local government in terms of “care of infrastructure and services”.

“The Midtown Gateway Project in the City of Nanaimo is transforming a legacy brownfield site impacted by past industrial activity into a revitalized neighbourhood gateway. It features new complete street transportation corridors, a restored and naturalized wetland with public walking trails, and enhanced access to the city’s premier recreation complex. The project started as a how do we fix a traffic problem. The question was, how do we improve this property so that the city can use it for traffic as well as create some good in the world? This is a case of a number of staff coming together and saying how do we do this, and how do we do it right,” stated Bill Sims.

“We all need to be backed up by each level of government responsibility. As a Regional Director, I will take on my responsibility regarding land use. But so must the other levels of government. Senior governments need to use their regulations to help local governments solve local problems. We need a provincial hammer. But there is nobody on the ground to take responsibility and follow through to resolve issues and concerns. All the agencies have cut back staff. The result is a free-for- all.,” stated Lori Iannidinardo.

“Start with an understanding of the parcel because that is how communities regulate and plan land use. It is the parcel level where you get the information that you need to change practice to protect natural assets. That is what everyone must get their heads around. Having a defensible number allows us to look at riparian condition and set targets for restoration. The riparian condition is one measure of the state of M&M over time. We usually find the streamside setback zone is in a deficit position because things that ought to have occurred to protect it have not,” stated Tim Pringle.

“We can all agree that water is important, that water needs to be protected, and we need to do that sooner rather than later. And it was not just the elected leaders of the three local governments doing the talking. The stewardship sector, Squamish First Nations and provincial government were represented too. Now, as an outcome of the Dialogue, the Sunshine Coast Regional District is looking at creating an aquifer protection area in concert with the Town of Gibsons. This will benefit the Town and other communities reliant on groundwater,” stated Mayor Bill Beamish.

“The old way of thinking comes to mind when we look at what the Public Sector Accounting Board has in mind when it talks about including natural assets in PSAB 3150.. My suggestion is practical and straightforward. Just do what the Town of Gibsons did in 2014. They included an accountant’s note in the Financial Statement that refers to natural assets. That is all you need. An auditor’s note is an appropriate form of recognition and can be accompanied by reference to a separate report specific to natural assets,” stated David Allen

William MacAskill is a proponent of what’s known as longtermism – the view that the deep future is something we have to address now. Although most cultures, particularly in the west, provide a great many commemorations of distant ancestors – statues, portraits, buildings – we are much less willing to consider our far-off descendants. “In societies undergoing rapid change, we feel more disconnected from the distant future because we struggle to conceive what it will be like,” stated William MacAskill.