Working Group hosts first community sustainability plan session

About 50 people gathered at the Activity Centre last Wednesday evening for Jasper’s first Community Sustainability Plan session.

The aim of the evening, said Working Group chairperson Ron Hooper, was to offer citizens an introduction to what may be a fuzzy notion. “A measure is if people walk away with an understanding of what community sustainability is, and the importance of everybody becoming engaged in the process,” Hooper said. “Those were the two objectives, and I think we achieved them.” 

Though he said he would have liked to have seen more people in attendance, Hooper expects involvement to grow. “It’s a word of mouth thing, so if the process has integrity, a degree of trust, and offers a safe and respectful place where people will be heard, more people will be encouraged to come out,” he said.  

The session kicked off what will be an approximately year-long set of initiatives to gather input from the community regarding Jasper’s future. The Working Group’s eight appointed volunteers develop the initiatives with guidance from the Steering Committee, comprised of Jasper’s council and Parks Canada superintendent Greg Fenton. Finally, FoTenn Consulting Inc. will use the input to draft the Community Sustainability Plan.

At the outset of the evening, attendants were invited to visit booths set up around the perimeter of the multi-purpose hall addressing the identified themes, which are natural environment, land use, housing, tourism, local economic development and transportation, water, energy, waste and emergency management, recreation, culture and health and well-being and governance. 

Local artists played live music while guests milled about, a feature Hooper said was intended to make the event stand out. “We want to demonstrate we’re doing things differently, so when you walk in you understand this isn’t the usual community planning,” he said.  

Later, the group listened to guest speakers, including Joanne McGill, provincial coordinator of the municipal sustainability planning initiative with the Alberta Urban Municipality Association, who aimed to demystify the meaning of sustainability. “Some of us like the way it is now, but how do we get closer to where we want to be?” she asked. “It’s an exciting place to be.“

The Working Group also hosted a Sustainable Tourism workshop on Oct. 16, as well as a Pecha Kucha night on Oct. 22 where residents could share their ideas using a slideshow presentation. The next workshop will be Nov. 5 to review the Jasper Community Vision and the sustainability principles that will be used to guide the plan. All events are free and open to all residents of Jasper. 

For more information about the Community Sustainability Plan, visit http://jasperplan.wordpress.com.