A Strategic Approach for 2002 and Beyond

by Pauline Gomez, Celina Owen, and Tim Pringle

Each year we, as a staff, learn more about land use issues in communities around the province. As we meet with non-profit organizations that are involved, hands-on, in land use issues on a daily basis, attend conferences, and read new research, we accumulate knowledge that helps us to review grant applications and to refine our
grant making strategy.

In September 2001 governors and staff met to review the Foundation’s operating and grant making policies, and to plan for the next three years. While the four program theme areas will remain intact, the Foundation will pursue more focused grant making in three of the theme areas: Environment & Land Use, Real Estate & Land Use Information for Communities, and Real Estate Industry Excellence.

Our focus for the Environment and Land Use theme will be on inventory and mapping initiatives and natural areas (e.g., watershed) planning projects. Projects must be connected to local and/or senior government land use planning, policy, or regulation. Our intent is to support initiatives that provide accurate, current environmental information to organizations that influence land use decisions in local areas. We also want to support the implementation of planning that is informed by such research.

Rural land use planning will be our focus for the Real Estate & Land Use Information for Communities theme. Our partners in this initiative will be UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning and the Planning Institute of British Columbia. Our aim is to make resources available for smaller communities to address downtown revitalization, growth management, and other local issues related to land use planning.

Under the Real Estate Industry Excellence theme the Foundation may undertake a coordinating role with industry organizations to develop professional education products that focus on issues of private property rights and land use rights for the commons. One question that we think is worth addressing is: In this society where private property rights are dearly held, do our land use policies and practices reflect our social and ethical obligations to one another and to the land, with its natural and cultural assets?

Although we will not pursue new strategy in the Housing & Finance theme area, we will continue to support projects that strive to meet community needs in practical ways. As government funding for housing construction projects decreases, local non-profit organizations will have to be more innovative than ever in attracting partners to achieve their goals.