How might the Planning Division effectively communicate and engage with the general public about planning applications? How do we inform the community in a way that is accessible/shareable, easy to understand, and informative?
Project Description: The City is required through Provincial legislation to provide public notice for all Planning applications received by the Planning Division. The public notice is currently provided by way of a Public Notice sign and a mailed letter advising the public of the application, date of public meeting, and a request to provide comments and feedback on the application. Staff are currently updating those notices.
Through a recent exercise to update the Public Notice Sign and mailed letter, the Planning Division identified the need to explore ways to better engage and communicate with the public, including getting a better understanding of how to reach a wider audience. The Division would like to explore how the public prefers to receive information, how to more effectively reach groups of the public (e.g. the younger generation) who are not typically involved in the planning process, and ways to improve on the use of technology to access information.
Part of the role of a municipal Planning department is to act as liaison between the City, developers and the public. Despite the transparency of the development process, a challenge remains in effectively communicating with the public what is going on in their neighbourhoods.
The city does not have a comprehensive website that allows the public to jump on and check out what the latest development applications are. This is an identified obstacle to sharing information. Also, public knowledge about planning changes over time. How do we inform the community in a way that is accessible/shareable, easy to understand and informative.
We are legislatively required to provide public notice for all planning applications submitted to the city. The language is not easy to understand. We regularly do a scan of what other municipalities are doing to reach the public; however, we do not often see a lot of innovation and wonder about the use of social media as well.
City Staff: Jennifer Haan, Business Facilitator, Planning and Economic Development
Additional City Staff: Tricia Collingwood, Manager, West Development Team and Business Facilitation
Instructor: Harold DeVries, Director, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Course name: Core Capstone Experience (CTS-410)
Students: 6 fourth year students