Last chance to voice concerns on city's official plan

GreenSpace North Bay
News Release

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North Bay - GreenSpace North Bay is encouraging members of the public to attend the last public meeting scheduled in the review of the City of North Bay's Official Plan.

The Official Plan provides guidance for the physical development of the municipality over the next 20 years and ideally takes into consideration important social, economic and environmental matters and goals.

GreenSpace North Bay will be among those making presentations at the meeting before Council on Monday evening. The citizens' group review of the most recent draft identified some areas of improvement from the previous draft, but also some continued areas of concern.
Those concerns include:

- no mention of Otter Lake in the final draft of the official plan, leaving the important natural and recreational area open to development

- the definition of "Open Space" in the Parks Plan was altered "beyond recognition" in an amedment made just weeks after it was presented to Council in a public meeting and the accepted by Council

- there is no emphasis/promotion of greening the city with
commitments to cycling, pedestrian and efficient public transit - to name a few.

- there is no protection of locally signficant wetlands

- the recently released final draft includes new prospects of new commercial development on the water front

Recommendations that Greenspace will emphasize on Monday's public meeting:

- Issues surrounding the future of the municipally owned land surrounding Otter Lake should be resolved in the new Official Plan, preserving Otter Lake as a recreational and natural heritage area for future generations of North Bay residents

- The revised official plan should include a definition and land use designation which protects locally significant wetlands, including the Johnson Road wetland, the Laurentian Marsh, and Jessup's Creek.

Priorities that GreenSpace North Bay has identified include greenspace, wetlands, transportation, and housing concerns, and an emphasis on making North Bay a "liveable, walkable, breatheable city". If you would like to receive a copy of GreenSpace North Bay's comments on the first draft, please send us a note by reply email and we will forward a copy. To learn more about GreenSpace North Bay
visit : http://greenspacenorthbay.net

The final draft of the official plan is available on the City's web site at at www.uplannorthbay.ca.

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