Grand Forks

Grand Forks OCP

Official Community Plan

Client: City of Grand Forks, BC

Date: 2021-2022

Location: City of Grand Forks, BC

Bluerock’s Role: Jonathan Schmidt acted as senior planner and project manager.

Bluerock Planning assisted lead consultant MVH Urban Planning and  Design with four significant projects for the City of Grand Forks, including a comprehensive overhaul of its Official Community Plan  (OCP), North Ruckle Park Design, Floodplain Bylaw, and Wayfinding  Program Design and Implementation Strategy.

A devastating flood in 2018 caused havoc across the City of Grand Forks.  The City has been slowly rebuilding ever since.
The new OCP transformed the potential of a small City OCP with strong  directions for protecting the City from future flooding through carefully crafted Development Permit Areas (DPAs) and associated policies. The OCP then built an inspiring strategy for neighbourhood vitalization and growth over time, focusing on creating neighbourhood nodes where a diversity of housing and local commercial can thrive. The OCP carefully addressed the City’s most pressing issues of environmental and flood protection, creating a diversity of housing options, and paving a pathway to neighbourhood evolution. The OCP was visually effective with beautiful hand sketches, graphic design and maps.

The project team blended the wayfinding graphical theme (a stained glass mosaic) into all four projects, creating a cohesive design signature that residents and Council would see not only in the OCP and other documents, but across the City as wayfinding signage is constructed.

The OCP was adopted in 2022. The full document is available here: Grand Forks OCP