Community Plan
Community

Community Goals

As Castlegar approaches the 21st century as a vibrant, charming and caring community, we envision the City:

1. Remaining as a Highly Desirable Place to Live

Castlegar has been recognized in recent times as one of the most desirable places to live in the region. This status will be sustained by maintaining a balanced growth and providing a high level of community services. It is the City's priority to support developments that will create more employment opportunities, and diversified industries.

In order to accommodate all income levels and age groups, the City will support developments of various types of high quality housing that are affordable and diverse. All new developments will create attractive and pleasant neighbourhoods, which will be clustered by land use type. Industries which may cause pollution or nuisance will be strictly regulated. Efforts will be taken to avoid further traffic congestion and to eliminate existing congestion through the use of roadway widening and intersection improvements.

Providing a variety of business opportunities and creating employment opportunities for all types of professionals, trade people and other workers are the most crucial prerequisites for a healthy community. Flexible planning initiatives will be taken as a means of improving and maintaining a healthy and sustainable local economy.

Cultural activities such as fine art, music, dancing and recreational and sport activities for all ages will be aggressively promoted. Development of facilities for such activities will be encouraged and supported. While the historical Doukhobor heritage will be clearly identified and supported, the community will also recognize the multi-cultural diversity of our population.

The healthy life-style of the residents is one of the community's priorities. Out-door activities taking advantage of our abundant natural amenities - mountains, woods, rivers and lakes - will be encouraged and supported.

The City will attempt to establish a "community identity" to reflect its superb natural setting and its distinctive ethnic and cultural base.

2. Growing to become the Principal Commercial and Communal Centre for the Region

As Castlegar is located in the centre of the West Kootenay, its role as the hub of transportation for the West Kootenay will be strengthened as the variety of commercial and industrial amenities is widened and the number of governmental and public facilities is increased.

To provide room for the expansion of such commercial amenities and public services, sufficient quantities of undeveloped areas will be set aside for future non-residential developments. Conversion of certain residential areas to commercial land uses will be encouraged and supported.

The types of commercial amenities in the community must be diversified to make the community a true shopping and travel destination. The community will aggressively support tourism industries by encouraging developments of tourist accommodation and facilities for personal services, professional services, social, cultural and sports events, recreation and entertainment. The inventory of commercial amenities should also include a variety of indirect or ínon-daily' services (such as wholesalers) to general consumers. The City will support development of business, recreational and cultural amenities that will make Castlegar a destination for travellers, shoppers and businesses, and will promote the Castlegar area for public service facilities.

A continuous upgrading of the transportation infrastructure, including the road network, transit system, railway and airport, will become one of the priorities in order to service shoppers and tourists.