The Municipality of Tweed’s Community Development Committee (CDC) wants local residents and organizations to know that the draft of the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) has been released for review and comment. The document is available for download (see below); printed copies are also available from the Municipality of Tweed and at a number of locations throughout the Municipality.
How Was the Plan Developed?
The draft document, titled ‘A New Direction: Our Citizens’ Vision for an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan’, is the result of the community consultation meetings held in April 2009 in Marlbank, Queensborough and the village of Tweed. The public’s response was exceptional. Over 150 people attended meetings, or provided input by other means including email, written submissions and personal discussion. Local schools also participated and provided valuable feedback. From this community discussion, about 1300 individual ideas emerged. These were synthesized into 123 proposed actions presented in a number of categories for each of the four ‘pillars’ of sustainability: cultural, economic, environment, and social.
What is the ICSP?
CDC Chair Don DeGenova notes that “The ICSP represents a leap into the future for our community. It represents ‘a new way of doing business’ for both the Municipality of Tweed and its citizens. The Plan identifies a vision, values, and proposed actions from all parts of our community, and brings them together in a format that will allow us to move forward. The Municipal Council and the Community Development Committee will be using these ideas to create an implementation plan that will guide and track the specific goals and activities that our residents indicated were their priorities.“ The proposed actions identified in the Plan reflect what the CDC heard from our residents; it is important to note that the actions have not been prioritized in any way by Council or the CDC. Some of the actions are already planned or are ongoing; others are completely new.
Next Steps
Council will continue to review the actions and identify those that are within their mandate, and then further evaluate them to determine which should become Council priorities in the short and longer-term. Other actions will be led by individuals or organizations, or perhaps other levels of government. In any case, partnership approaches to implementation will be critical. The CDC is planning a series of consultation meetings with local residents, and a workshop with local service clubs and community organizations during the last two weeks of February. Please see the dowloaded flyer which list the scheduled public meetings. Feedback on the draft ICSP and the proposed actions will be sought. It is hoped that local organizations will choose to lead or partner with others on actions that are consistent with their mandates and plans. Individuals will also be encouraged to become involved during the implementation stage as well. Additional information on the consultation meetings will be provided as it becomes available (via this web site, local media and posters/flyers distributed across the Municipality).
Download the Documents
The following documents are available for download:
- Draft ICSP Document – December 2009 (48 pages, 1.3 MB)
- Draft ICSP Executive Summary Document – December 2009 (8 pages, 0.6 MB)
- Draft ICSP Background Document – October 2009 (63 pages, 1.6 MB)
- ICSP Brochure /Backgrounder – February 2009 (2 pages, 0.1 MB)
- Public Meeting Information Flyer (1 page 0.4 MB)
To obtain a printed copy of ICSP documents, please contact the Municipality.
Need More Information?
Please contact Sharon Pedersen, Community Development Coordinator, Municipality of Tweed 613.478.2535 spedersen@twp.tweed.on.ca
Or
Don DeGenova, Chair, Community Development Committee 613.478.6693 degedon@sympatico.ca