Town of View Royal Seeks Input on Community Engagement

July 22, 2024

View Royal, BC - The Town of View Royal is exploring new ways of engaging the community and wants to hear from residents, business owners, and interested parties about what they are most interested in and how they like to provide input on community matters.

“Public engagement helps build trust, transparency, and accountability between decision-makers and the community by fostering open communication and active participation,” noted Mayor Sid Tobias. “A lot has changed since COVID-19 in terms of how people prefer to communicate and what tools and approaches exist for local governments. It’s essential that Mayor and Council hear from View Royal residents about how we can best engage with them to inform the very decisions that affect them. Council has adopted the International Association of Public Participation to guide the best practices for engaging with people and truly listening to their feedback."

Public engagement refers to the process of involving the public in decision-making processes, policy development, planning initiatives, or other activities that affect the community. The gathering of ideas, feedback, and input from a diverse range of perspectives ensures that decisions are informed by the needs, preferences, and values of the broad public. It can take various forms, such as surveys, town hall meetings, focus groups, online forums, community pop-ups, and collaborative workshops.

Later this year, the Town will be initiating its Official Community Plan review process, which guides how the community will develop and change over time, addressing important issues like housing and land development, transportation and mobility, infrastructure, parks and recreation, local economy, and climate change. The Town also has an ambitious Strategic Plan that will benefit from ongoing community engagement as the Town considers community investments and future policy directions.

The Town is seeking input through an online survey that is open until September 1, 2024; the online survey is available at www.viewroyal.ca/haveyoursay. Those who participate can enter for a chance to win 1 of 3 $10 gift cards to a View Royal coffee shop. Town staff will also be out in the community over the summer months hearing from people and promoting the online engagement survey.

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