OCP is a legal document to be upheld
To the Editor:
I congratulate the Bowen Island Conservancy for its informative letter, which points out that policy 43 of our Official Community Plan states that “the municipality will ...apply the Islands Trust Fund Natural Areas Protection Tax Exemption Program (NAPTEP) to promote conservation on private land.”
Whereas our previous municipal council had set the wheels in motion to comply with that policy, our current council has stopped it in its tracks. As stated by the Bowen Island Conservancy, our Official Community Plan is a “legal document that applies to the governance of our island”. Accordingly, our previous council had fulfilled its duties in recognizing that the policy of our Official Community Plan with regard to NAPTEP should be applied to the governance of Bowen Island.
Those entrusted to uphold our Official Community Plan should not ignore its policies of conservancy, nor should they attempt to distance our community from the provisions of its own community plan.
John Sbragia
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