Jane Wellburn says the Williams Lake community is giving “positive and constructive” feedback on the proposed Active Transportation Network Plan(ATNP).
Wellburn, Regional Manager of the Cariboo Chilcotin office of the Fraser Basin Council, says over 100 people came to the open house on Tuesday, February 25. The community gave input on the overall drafted plan. As well as listed which projects should be prioritized.
“We wanted feedback on what was missing. Are we headed in the right direction,” Wellburn says. “I feel good about the community representation and input on the process so far.”
The City of Williams Lake agreed to develop an ATPN during a November council meeting. It launched the plan’s first survey in mid-November, which received over 700 responses.
The City hired Urban Systems, a Vancouver-based consulting firm specializing in active transportation designs to help draft the network plan.
First Basin and the City, now in Phase 3 of their development cycle, launched a second survey on Monday, February 24, to identify projects the plan should prioritize.
“It’s early days for the second survey,” Wellburn says. “At the open house, there was an overwhelming perspective that, yes, this is important work that we[the community] want to see done in the community.”
Wellburn says some of the priorities in the survey came up during Tuesday’s open house. Community members are able to rank which projects are higher priority, from smaller to longer-term projects.
The ATNP will be a “long-term process” and is still in the early drafting phase. Wellburn says once a plan has been drafted, the City can look into grants for funding development.
“This is step one. I think we can build momentum and visibility with smaller projects from specific grant funding. We need the plan in place first. Then we’ll chip away at it as best we can.”
Wellburn believes there are a lot of positives coming from the Williams Lake community and the direction of the ATNP.
“We’re excited for to watch the process unfold and continue this work. If we build this infrastructure, people will use it, and it creates a safer environment, it can liven the community in lots of different ways.”
A link to the second survey can be found on the City’s website.
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