Draft Future Rural Land Use Map
What is a land use map?
A land use map is a schedule within an Official Community Plan. An Official Community Plan (OCP) is a long range (20 year) guide for the municipality that helps Council in making decisions on matters such as land use and growth, transportation, agricultural preservation, economic development, and housing. It is a vision for how we want our city to grow and change.
Land use maps set out the big picture vision for an area. They are high level overviews of how an area or neighbourhood will develop. A land use map differs from the Zoning Bylaw because it sets out a future vision of the community that Council will then use to guide their decision making, especially in regards to rezoning applications. The Zoning Bylaw is the main tool that the City uses to implement the goals and objectives in land use plans. Zoning is the legal tool that describes what uses are permitted on a property, how buildings are situated on an individual site, as well as building size. It ensures new buildings support the vision in the land use plan.
