myPG Principles:
An Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (myPG) considers the following key sustainability elements:
Long term thinking - Local governments consider extending the planning horizon beyond the normal 3-5 year planning timeframe
Broad in scope - Local governments consider the community’s environmental, economic, social and/or cultural sustainability
Integration - Local governments better co-ordinate their approach to community sustainability through linkages between different types of plans
Collaboration - Local governments engage the public and other partners in planning processes to support community sustainability
In addition, myPG principles also include:
Public Engagement and Education – the planning processes enhance public understanding and participation
Implementation – communities ensure that plans are living documents that are kept off the shelf and put into action
Monitoring and Evaluation – plans outline targets and track results in order to monitor and celebrate progress and focus efforts on areas that need the most improvement, sharing the results with the community
The City feels it is vitally important to involve the community in creating and carrying out this plan, it needs to be created for and by the people who live here.
How did we get here? Read more about the PG Journey to sustainability…
Who is Paying for myPG?
myPG is an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan or "ICSP". Integrated Community Sustainability Planning is an initiative of the 2005 Federal-Provincial-Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) Federal Gas Tax Agreement. These funds are intended to improve communities now and into the future under specific criteria, which requires a plan. Under the Gas Tax Agreement, all local governments that receive Government of Canada Federal Gas Tax funds have committed to create that plan, an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan.
With myPG, the City of Prince George will receive $2,911,366.44 each year, from 2010/11 until 2013/14 from the Government of Canada Federal Gas Tax funds.
Gas tax funds can and will be used to help create the ICSP, and for Prince George, we also received a grant known as the General Strategic Priority Fund (GSPF), also funded by the Federal Gas Tax agreement to cover the cost of myPG.
The City of Prince George will be updating the Official Community Plan (OCP) as part of myPG, to create coordination and savings. (The OCP is reviewed every 5 to 10 years, our last full review was 2001).
myPG funding is made up of: $300,000.00 from the Gas Tax Agreement, $100,000.00 of municipal funds that were budgeted for the OCP review, and $120,000.00 in GSPF (an additional gas tax grant) funds. Any additional costs for staff time and expenses that are "incremental" (additional to regular city business needed to create an ICSP) are also paid by the Gas Tax Funds.
Making this investment means we will have access to Federal Gas Tax funds over the next few years. It has also been suggested that future funding opportunities from Federal and Provincial governments may favor communities that have an ICSP.
For an internet link to the Gas Tax Agreement funding, other communities' ICSP efforts and sustainability planning resources, please visit the myPG website links page.