Creston Picks Its Future

Creston Picks a Fresh Approach

It’s hard to know if you’re winning without a strategy.

And a strategy is precisely what had been missing in Creston, BC, for years. When it was decided it was time to create a new Official Community Plan (OCP) for Creston, the first question was how to inspire enthusiastic resident involvement in the planning for their community’s future?

It’s pretty typical for outside consultants to be brought into a community. But here the town turned to a local non-profit organization they knew would be invested in the process and result, who were already intimately familiar with what had unfolded in the past.

— Laura Hannant, Kootenay Employment Services

The initial answer was to engage Kootenay Employment Services (KES), a locally/regionally-based organization, to take the project lead. From the very beginning, it was made clear that KES was to strive to raise the level of public awareness of municipal issues, through a broadly inclusive process.

We agreed land use would be the underlying strategy, but we also wanted to take into account community goalsd and aspirations, through a place=based, pragmatic, balanced, and collaborative approach.

— Lou Varela, Creston Town Manager

Methods, Not Madness

The process of gathering ideas and inspiration for the new OCP took multiple forms, including kitchen table talks, community events, one-on-one interviews — even a scavenger hunt, known as The OCP Challenge — more than 250 people aged 14 to 80 took part. The Challenge was an experiment in community planning and rural place-making. The process used a mobile app, a website, and paper scavenger hunt maps to encourage citizens to explore community issues and the community itself. They were directed to locations around Creston where Challenge stations invited targeted feedback on specific municipal issues.  Their participation generated 3,533 responses to Challenge questions, plus nearly a thousand additional ideas for Creston’s future. Input was received from every demographic in the community — suggestions and comments came in from folks as old as 100 and as young as six (direct outreach took place in seniors residences and elementary schools).

More than 8,300 participants submitted their names for a prize draw by participating in some form of OCP community engagement.

Organizational leads included the Lower Kootenay Band, directors from the Regional District of Central Kootenay, staff and councillors from the Town of Creston, community volunteers,  Creston students of all ages, and KES.

The Focus

Creston’x new OCP addresses six aspects community of life: community engagement and Creston experience principles, community context, land use policies, development permit areas, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and community goals and policies.

Within those areas of focus, attention is paid to issues like management of residential growth, infrastructure, the natural environment, economic prosperity, downtown vibrancy, valley collaboration, quality of life, and inclusive local identity, among others.

Of course any strategy is essentially academic unless it’s acted upon.

For instance, to support connectivity and walkability from the two hubs in Creston—the downtown and the Creston Valley Mall—we just opened public washrooms in our downtown – this project has been in the works for quite a while but the call for this amenity was resoundingly heard throughout the public engagement process.

— Mayor Ron Toyota

Ultimately the aim is to make Creston more user-friendly, vibrant, and inclusive; more prosperous;, and more socially and environmentally responsible. Creston’s experience demonstrates that community’s are capable of taking matters into their own hands. The capacity to establish aspirational — as well as practical — goals exists in most rural communities. The trick it to recognize this often “hidden strength,” then effectively mobilize it.