Gabriola Village Vision Plan

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Gabriola Village Vision Plan
Final Report
August 22, 2017
from the Village Vision Planning Committee
A Community-Led Planning Process 
Envisioning the Future of
Gabriola Island’s Village Centre
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For more information on the Village Vision community-led planning project 
please go to www.villagevision.ca.
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Message from the Village Vision Planning Committee
This report is the culmination of a community-led planning process spanning four years. The volunteer 
Village Vision Planning Committee formed to support the Local Trust Committee in advancing planning 
for the Village Core. The initiative was generated from community discussions regarding the importance 
of having a coherent plan for the village core, informed by and supported by Gabriolans, that could guide 
decision makers over the next decade. 
The planning committee is made up of individuals with ties to a variety of community organizations, how-
ever it is important to note that they act as individuals and do not act of behalf of any particular organiza-
tion. The committee’s role was to design and implement a planning process that would provide opportuni-
ties for all Gabriolans to have a voice in all aspects of village core planning and to translate that input into 
recommendations that local government could use in developing policies and plans to ensure a sustain-
able village core. The project has been volunteer-led and donation-supported. 
From the outset, the committee saw its role as creating opportunities to gain and exchange knowledge 
and to create a space for Gabriolans to influence the future of the village core. In carrying out this work, 
the committee ensured that local government organizations were kept abreast of the process and the 
emerging results. We envisioned village core planning as a collaborative process, engaging Gabriolans 
and local government in co-creating a viable plan for our village core. 
This plan is intended to be a catalyst document to inspire and guide future processes and decisions that 
affect the village centre. We know that the village will continue to evolve, and that change will be shaped 
by a complex interplay of many social, cultural, economic, environmental, political, and regulatory factors. 
The Vision Plan is therefore not prescriptive. Rather, the document provides a Guiding Principles frame-
work, which could be used to evaluate future proposals. It suggests some Top Priorities for the near-term. 
It elaborates with some “Big Ideas” to consider for further planning – distilled from the many ideas sug-
gested throughout the Village Vision process.  It also provides Summary Recommendations to our local 
governments and other stakeholders outlining next steps. 
There are many ideas and recommendations in the report; in the short to medium-term, we ask the Local 
Trust Committee to prioritize five critical issues: 
• Imple

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