FAQs

The current Official Community Plan for Electoral Area C, which includes Harrison Mills, was adopted in 2000 and is now over 20 years old. Over this time, the policies of the OCP have been achieved and the document no longer suits the needs of the community. The neighbourhood’s existing infrastructure was built to support current development and needs to be assessed prior to any future redevelopment opportunities.

The FVRD has been approached by landowners with proposals for significant (re)development in the neighbourhood that would require significant amendments to the OCP for Electoral Area C. These conditions have deemed it an appropriate time to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan and Local Servicing Plan specific to the Harrison Mills Neighbourhood.

When complete, the Harrison Mills Neighbourhood Plan will communicate a clear vision that conveys how the community will develop and supportive policies including:

• Core values and principles that will guide future development
• Policies for the preservation of cultural resources, environmentally sensitive areas, and hazard avoidance
• Policies that support Harrison Mills as a recreational gateway and vital area for eagle and salmon habitat
• Policies for technical reporting and public review of future rezoning applications within the neighbourhood

There is a high level of interest in the area which has contributed to the need for a comprehensive Neighbourhood Plan and Local Serving Plan for Harrison Mills. The completion of these plans will determine how much growth and development potential is possible in the neighbourhood based on servicing and capacity constraints, environmental considerations, and demand for development.

The Harrison Mills neighbourhood was largely shaped by the subdivisions of Eagle Point and Harrison Mills as well as the recreational developments of Sandpiper Golf Course and Tapadera Estates. The neighbourhood’s existing infrastructure (i.e., water and community sewer services) was built to support current development and needs to be assessed in advance of any major site-specific redevelopment.

Following the completion of the Harrison Mills Neighbourhood Plan, a Local Servicing Plan will be completed that is specific to the neighbourhood. The Local Servicing Plan will identify the servicing needs, capacity and options to provide community water and sewer systems for the growth and land uses identified through the neighbourhood planning process.

The engagement strategy prepared for the Harrison Mills Neighbourhood Plan outlines several opportunities for engagement with local Indigenous communities throughout the planning process. This includes meetings with Sts’ailes and Sq’éwlets, as well as with Stó:lō communities. In addition, there will be Indigenous engagement events that will complement a broader community-wide engagement event.

However, the Project Team will also be reaching out to Indigenous communities and agencies to determine the preferred nature of engagement. The intent is to build upon existing relationships and to build relationships where none are currently in place.

Check back regularly to be updated on the engagement process and to be notified of future engagement events. You may also contact the Project Team at:

FVRD Planning Department at dbennett@fvrd.ca

Urban Systems (Planning Consultant Team) at slahey@urbansystems.ca

In recent years, the FVRD has been also approached by landowners in the neighborhood to examine new development proposals, proposals that require amendments to the existing OCP. These proposals involve tourist accommodation (motel/hotel, RVs), boat launch facilities, community medical facilities, local commercial uses, relocation of existing civic uses (FVRD waste transfer station) as well as industrial and resource use. In 2020, the Sandpiper Resort presented redevelopment concepts for the existing golf course; no applications were made. The scope was such that it would trigger a major Official Community Plan and Zoning Amendments. Given the level of interest in development and re-development in this area and the age of the existing OCP, the development of a neighborhood plan and local servicing plan for the Harrison Mills neighborhood is essential for orderly and sustainable community planning.

FVRD has recently embarked on the Neighbourhood Plan process with the initiation of mailout letters and a survey. An important part of the journey is to receive public feedback at different times in the project. The public engagement process will include survey, virtual meetings, and open houses as we progress. There is no one form of public engagement that is more important than the other. Staff along with the consultants will identify common themes that will arise out of these different forms of engagement, which will inform the overall neighborhood plan. The FVRD Harrison Mills NP Have Your Say website has project contacts from both FVRD and Urban Systems, who monitor the inboxes regularly for written submissions as well. People can register to receive updates on the website. There will be future mailouts notifying residents of future public information meetings as well.

The components (e.g. land use plan, density, housing type) of the Neighbourhood Plan are not predetermined. As such, it is important that residents are directed to staff anytime there are questions or comments so that we can include them in our review process and they form part of the research. There will be check-ins along the way with the residents to identify and address these themes and comments. The NP will be formed based on technical studies, Housing Needs Report, Land use analyses, and resident feedback. There are also general FAQs and background reports on the Have Your Say website that may be helpful. The website will be updated regularly with new information as they are received.

Community Engagement and the technical studies are being undertaken concurrently, engineering field work began in the first week of September 2021 and the first part of the community engagement (community survey and project website) are now complete. 

A Neighbourhood Plan will be based on two integrated components; Professional Planning Services that will develop neighbourhood planning policies and visions for the plan area, and Professional Engineering Services that will develop a Local Servicing Plan. The Engineering Services are to be fully integrated with the planning services. Engineering services must be adjustable and flexible to change through the plan development process. Servicing needs must respond to public consultation and must address public input. The Professional Engineering Services will include the development of a Local Servicing Plan to meet the servicing requirements of the Local Neighbourhood Plan being simultaneously developed and shall identify the servicing needs, capacity and options to provide community water and sewer for neighbourhood growth.

The Sandpiper Resort, a detailed report on the funding of the neighbourhood plan is online here: https://pub-fvrd.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16126 and here: https://pub-fvrd.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16127

The Sandpiper Resort, a detailed report on the funding of the neighbourhood plan is online here: https://pub-fvrd.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16126 

You can find all of the current development applications in the FVRD online here: https://www.fvrd.ca/EN/main/services/planning-development/current-developments.html 

There is a section in the Official Community Plan on the development history of the area, you can find that here: https://www.fvrd.ca/assets/Government/Documents/Bylaws/Planning~and~Land~Use/Area%20C%20-%20OCP%20Bylaw%2020%20-%20Morris%20Valley,%20Harrison%20Mills%20and%20Lake%20Errock.pdf

See Part 1: Background Report History.