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 V‘-1 HISTORY-ONICS SEPTEMBER, 2006 VOLUME 23, No. 6 ^ ' The Newsletter of the West Vancouver Historical Saciep^ if' >â-  â-  A HERITAGE STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WEST VANC0UV]£R>^(AT LAST) In March 2005 I wrote in the newsletter that the West Vancouver mayor and council of the day had adopted an “Arts and Culture Strategy” which had been presented to them. This policy embraces visual and performing arts, heritage activities and encourages and supports the “collection preservation and display of historically significant artifacts and archival materials." By mid 2005 the council Heritage Advisory Committee had lept into action and proposed formation of a working group to develop a plan whereby West Van’s history and heritage would be brought into the mainstream of cultural activities and become part of the ongoing planning and management of municipal affairs. The plan was to be called “A heritage Strategic Plan for West Vancouver”. The working group consisted of then councillor and now mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Councillor Rod Day, five members of the HAC, and I was pleased to be asked to represent the West Vancouver Historical Society. Kick-off for the project was a day-long community workshop where over fifty people expressed their views and wishes. This was followed by the appointment of consultants Commonwealth Historic Management Limited to assist the working group and write the final report. Coming out of the workshop a number of community values were identified. In three categories they are: Our natural heritage, ie., our geography and landscape, our Built Heritage and our Cultural Heritage, which is really just the record of human activity. The next several months were taken up by meetings of the group, the consultants and West Vancouver Planning Depai'tment staff, in particular, Stephen Mikicich, whose enthusiasm for the project was contagious. The report was presented to council last spring and accepted as part of municipal policy in June. A quick read of the summary reveals that the public indentify a number of strong community values: -The natural heritage of West Vancouver is highly valued; -The built heritage is valued but does not have the same profile as the natural heritage; -West Vancouver is a “community of neighbourhoods” each with its distinctive character. As such, the preservation of neighbour character is important. -West Vancouver is seen as being distinct from other Lower Mainland Communities both aesthetically and culturally. -The community has come to identify arts, culture and movable cultural heritage (cultural artifacts, papers, etc.) The plan details ten strategies to achieve its goals. I will not detail all ten but they include: -Identifying and protecting existing heritage resources. -Including the public by way of publicity, displays, programs and partnerships. -Integrating heritage matters into the overall municipal planning process and develop the capacity to do it. -Introducing incentives to encourage conservation of heritage resources. -Ian Macdonald The newlestter thanks Ian Macdonald for this very valuable contribution to its pages.