As you move about the city doing your day to day business, running errands, shopping, or enjoying recreational pursuits have you ever caught yourself thinking or saying “I wonder why they did that?” or “They should have…” or “Why don’t they…”?  And just who is they anyway?  

If you have, that probably means you care enough about your city and neighbourhood to notice the way it’s been planned, or not planned.  Like a lot of cities, in its early days Kamloops grew as more people came here to live and work.  Many decisions were made on a case by case basis, likely without a greater plan to guide development.  The city kind of just evolved over time.  Case in point:  the Fortune, Tranquille, Eighth Street main intersection in North Kamloops.  Many a visitor has arrived at that spot and gone “Huh?  Why am I on Tranquille on this side of the lights and then on Fortune on that side?”  That’s the kind of quirky thing that can happen over time without a city or neighbourhood plan to guide future development.

Now, I’m not saying quirky can’t be fun (it can!), but a well considered neighbourhood plan makes a city livable, convenient, efficient, and equitable to all members of the community. Coming up, WE all have an opportunity to be the THEY who can guide the future of our city.  The City of Kamloops is currently developing the North Shore Neighbourhood Plan and we are all being asked to provide input on the latest iteration of the plan.  Whether you live in Brocklehurst, Westsyde, Aberdeen, or Valleyview, you have an opportunity to shape a part of the city that is home to the largest number of residents in Kamloops and is frequented by people from all over the city for its airport, pathways, parks, sporting venues, and culturally diverse restaurants.

There are a few ways you can learn more about the North Shore Neighbourhood Plan and provide input about its direction:

1) Zoom meeting on Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 7pm, hosted by the City’s Community Planning Team: 

Click here for Zoom Link (Meeting ID: 954 9099 1772, Passcode: 517520)

2) North Shore Neighbourhood Plan Let’s Talk page – https://letstalk.kamloops.ca/northshoreplan

3) North Shore Neighbourhood Plan Strategic Directions (also available under Document Library on the Let’s Talk page) — please review this document in advance of the meeting

4) Strategic Directions Survey (also available on the Let’s Talk page) — this is the general public survey and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete

5) Strategic Directions Stakeholder Survey (long-form version, not available on the Let’s Talk page) — this is an optional longer version of the survey for folks who are interested and have the time to take a deeper dive into the materials. This version will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Note: please complete either the general public survey or the stakeholder survey. The stakeholder survey includes the same questions as the general public survey, with additional questions on the topic and character area strategic directions.

So, join me and other residents who care about the city we live in and turn a “Why?” into a “Wow! They were sure thinking when they planned that!” 

Deb Alore, a member of the Community Alliance for a Resilient Kamloops

Overhead image of Kamloops by NASA Johnson is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0