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For the two major metropolitan areas in British Columbia, intermunicipal
planning is a way of working together to resolve problems which in smaller
communities are the responsibility of local government but which in a
metropolitan area cannot be resolved by any single municipality acting alone.

In the past, intermunicipal planning has provided the catalyst for effective
action on a host of problems, including the provision of rapid transit,
Curtailment of development in floodplain areas and the acquisition of regional

parks.
It is essential that this function be maintained.

Recommendation 1: AN INTERMUNICIPAL PLANNING FUNCTION SHOULD BE PROVIDED IN
LEGISLATION FOR METROPOLITAN ECONOMIC AREAS SUCH AS THE
LOWER MAINLAND AND GREATER VICTORIA WHICH HAVE LARGE AND
GROWING POPULATIONS AND NUMEROUS. LOCAL GOVERNMENT

JURISDICTIONS.

The most important purpose of intermunicipal planning is to supply a process
for the coordination of programs and services to meet the area-wide needs of
the population. This should be supported by a responsiblity to investigate
and recommend action on emerging problems likely to affect the future of the

metropolitan area.

The function should also meet two further purposes. First, it should provide
a common information base on growth and change so that each municipality does
not have to develop and analyse this information in isolation, producing both «
duplication of effort and a tendency to overestimate future growth and
service needs. Second, because suitable and is relatively. scarce,
intermunicipal planning should provide broad land-use guidelines in relation
to the requirements of the region as a whole. This provides a limited but
essential regional voice in the relatively few local government land-use
decisions which involve area-wide concerns.

Recommendation 2: THE PURPOSES OF INTERMUNICIPAL PLANNING SHOULD BE:

(a) TO PROVIDE A PROCESS FOR THE COORDINATION OF PROGRAMS, SERVICES, AND
EXPENDITURES NECESSARY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE AREA'S POPULATION;

(b) TO INVESTIGATE AND RECOMMEND ACTION ON PROBLEMS WHICH AFFECT ALL OR A
MAJOR PART OF THE AREA; ; .

(c) TO SUPPLY THE INFORMATION ON THE OVERALL SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA WHICH IS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND

DECISION-MAKING; AND
(d) TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A REGIONAL LAND-USE POLICY FRAMEWORK.

The principal device for achieving these purposes should be an Official
Regional Pian, which should be timited in scope to those matters which clearly
concern the functioning of the metropolitan area as a whole. There jis an
obvious requirement for a set of objectives and a strategy for the desired

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