Brookswood-Fernridge Neighbourhood Planning Team

On April 1, 2019 Council appointed a 12-member Neighbourhood Planning Team (NPT) and three Neighbourhood Planning Sub-Teams (NPSTs), made up of six members each, to represent the neighbourhoods of Booth, Fernridge and Rinn. The NPT and NPSTs will assist staff in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plans and will serve as a ‘sounding-board’ throughout the project.

The NPT and NPSTs will exist for the length of the planning process and will form part of the many public engagement opportunities that will take place over the length of the Neighbourhood Planning project. 

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At the beginning of 2020, the planning process for the preparation of the three neighbourhood plans in Brookswood-Fernridge – Booth, Fernridge and Rinn – was progressing on schedule, completing all of Phase 1 and nearly half of Phase 2 of the three-phased approach. However, due to public health guidelines and restrictions related to the COVID19 pandemic, the planning process was suspended in mid-March of this year.

As some of the public health orders have recently lessened, resulting in lifting of some of the restrictions, staff recommend proceeding with the next steps, incorporating some amendments to public engagement components of the process, with the goal of resuming the planning process, with the objective of utilization of virtual options, rather than face-to-face gatherings, where possible and as conditions permit.

Revised Public Engagement Approach

A revised public engagement approach for the rest of the Brookswood-Fernridge neighbourhood planning process would follow a similar number of events, so as to maintain the same level of engagement outlined in the Council-adopted Project Terms of Reference. The content in terms of policy themes and topics would also remain the same. The primary departures for public engagement would be the delivery, namely the use of virtual options rather than face-to-face gatherings.  

For the combined Neighbourhood Planning Team and Sub-Teams meetings, staff would distribute information and a pre-recorded presentation to the members. One week would be provided for Members to raise any questions and seek clarification of staff, followed by a second week for Members to prepare comments to be moderated and posted on the NPT webpage.

The Neighbourhood Workshops would be replaced with a series of Neighbourhood Policy Dialogues. A similar format that was applied to the combined NPT and NPST meetings would inform the Neighbourhood Policy Dialogue series. However, the information and a pre-recorded presentation would be prepared for each neighbourhood. Lastly, the Public Open Houses would take place virtually as well. Staff are exploring ideas such as “live streaming” or a “chat” function to provide a real-time experience.  

Interim Summary Engagement Report

As a means to recap where we are and what we have accomplished thus far in the planning process for new neighbourhoods in Brookswood-Fernridge, please review the Phase 2 Interim Summary Engagement Report. This document provides an update on the activities conducted and input gathered to date for this stage of the process.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding, as we all adapt to these changed realities.

Stay Tuned!

Upcoming Meeting

The next meeting of the combined NPT and NPSTs has been scheduled and will take place on Tuesday, November 12, 7:00 – 9:00pm at the Langley Mennonite Fellowship Church (20997 - 40 Avenue).  A meeting agenda will be posted in the coming days.

Just as a reminder, the public is welcome to attend the meetings as observers, but will not have an opportunity to participate in the discussion.  Summary notes from the meetings will be made available to the public.

Combined NPT and NPST Meeting #3

The third meeting of the combined NPT and NPSTs was held on Tuesday, October 22, 2019.  The meeting covered a number of items as outlined in the Meeting #3 Agenda and in the Meeting Notes.

Discussions at the Joint NPT and NPSTs Meeting were informed by the Brookswood-Fernridge Environmental Assessment (Preliminary Draft).

Combined NPT and NPST Meeting #2

The second meeting was held on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 at 7:00pm.  The meeting covered a number of discussion items and table exercises, as outlined in the Meeting #4 Agenda and in the Meeting Notes.

Discussion at the meeting drew upon and was informed by three documents, including the Phase 1 Engagement Summary, a Commercial Market Demand Study (Preliminary Draft) and a Neighbourhood Planning Primer (Preliminary Draft).

The inaugural, combined meeting of the NPT and the NPSTs took place on Monday, May 6 at 6:30pm at the Langley Mennonite Church (20997 – 40 Avenue). A meeting agenda was provided, which outlined the times to be discussed, and a presentation was delivered to the Members. Also, summary meeting notes have been prepared.

For future reference, the public is welcome to attend NPT and NPST meetings as observers, but will not have an opportunity to participate in the discussion. 

On May 27, 2019, Council approved the Neighbourhood Planning Sub-Team Terms of Reference.

Lastly, information regarding forthcoming public engagement events of this Phase of the project has been released and details regarding these events is available on the Brookswood-Fernridge Neighbourhood Plans project webpage.

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