The City of Revelstoke Planning Department is seeking community members to sit on community advisory committees that will shape the long-term planning decisions in seven Revelstoke neighbourhoods.

Jessica Stuart is a contract employee with the city’s planning department. She says the idea is to help make decisions at the community level that deal with not only long-term issues, but also specific concerns.

Say, for example, someone proposed opening a convenience store in Arrow Heights. The committee would make recommendations to city council about the proposal. As well, the committees would guide the next stage of the Official Community Plan implementation in their neighbourhoods -- in effect going through a “mini-OCP” process for the neighbourhood in the coming months, says Stuart.

She says it’s about involving community members in decisions that have an impact close to home. “We don’t want to just decide that ourselves at the planning department. We want to work with [these] committees and work with the neighbourhoods to ... create a vision for them over a long term,” said Stuart.

There will be seven community committees. They are Columbia Park, Central Residential, Lower Town, Arrow Heights, South Revelstoke, Big Eddy and Central Business District.

The committees will meet on a monthly basis to start, but could scale back in the future and meet on a needs basis, said Stuart. She says there will be a bit of a learning curve at the outset. Committee members will be familiarized with the Official Community Plan and other planning affairs during the first meetings.

The tenure and rotation of committee members is still something that is to be worked out. Stuart says the idea is to make the community advisory committees permanent and eventually develop term lengths. For now, the planning department is trying to build momentum and interest, choosing to work out those details in the future.

Committee members will be voted in by show of hand at the initial neighbourhood meetings. Everyone is welcome to attend the initial meetings; showing up doesn’t necessarily mean you want a spot on the committee.

The committees are advisory committees. Although they do make recommendations, they do not have the final say. “The committee is advisory. In the end they present their thoughts to council and council does make the end decision,” said Stuart. “It’s really good to have people from the community that are living there and actively participating in their community to have them come forward with their ideas and present [their reasons].”

The committees aren’t just for planning policy wonks. Stuart says they are looking for a variety of people with different personal and professional backgrounds who want to be more involved in neighbourhood-level decisions. “It’s directly influencing your community and they need to be a part of that if they are interested in it,” said Stuart.

All of the initial and future community meetings will take place at the Revelstoke Community Centre. All meetings are from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and will include a more in depth explanation of the committees and their future work. Dates for the upcoming initial meetings where committee members will be voted in are: Central Residential Community Meeting - Wednesday, Oct. 14. Lower Town Community Meeting - Thursday, Oct. 15. Arrow Heights Community Meeting - Tuesday, Oct. 20. South Revelstoke Community Meeting - Wednesday, Oct. 21. Big Eddy Community Meeting - Wednesday, Oct. 28. Central Business District Community Meeting- Thursday, Oct. 29.