BAGUIO CITY – The Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) charts the city’s physical and economic development with the aim of preserving the city’s ecological balance.
City planning and development officer Evelyn Cayat, in her report before city officials and employees led by Rep. Mark Go, Mayor Mauricio Domogan and Vice Mayor Edison Bilog last Monday, said the CLUP which was approved by the city council through Resolution No. 306 series of 2016 after years of study and consultations with the various sectors of society is geared toward attaining sustainable development.
“The importance of maintaining our ecological balance and conservation of the resources has been increasingly becoming clear in the last two decades. It has now become necessary for the city to recognize this fact and plan what is known as ‘sustainable development,” Cayat said.
“This means that the requirements of the present generation in terms of economic growth and community development (to provide basic needs) are met without compromising on environmental protection and thus will ensure that every generation will leave clean air, water and soil resources for the future generation.”
` Cayat said the plan also guides, controls and regulates the “development of the city, protects the character of the different identified zones, promotes and protects the health, safety, peace, comfort and convenience and the general welfare of our people as well as our unique environment.”
Under the CLUP, land uses were designated and were zoned as residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, watersheds or forest reservation, parks and others.
The permitted uses of each zone were also spelled out in the plan.
Cayat said that to decongest the central business district, commercial zones were designated at the outskirts like in Naguilian Road, Irisan, Camp 7 and Marcos Highway.
There were also rules for the preservation of the watershed and forest reservations.
Moreoeverm the plan enhanced the disaster risk reduction management of the city with vulnerability profiling which describes the city’s topography and slope, drainage, flood points location, geology, landslide susceptibility and sinkholes.
“These were all analyzed in coming with the land use map,” Cayat said.
The CLUP is implemented through the zoning ordinance which was also approved by the city council through Ordinance No. 63 series of 2016.
Cayat said an information-education-communication drive is being done to educate the public on the plan.
Domogan, chair of the City Development Council (CDC) which drafted the CLUP, said the CLUP serves as “our City’s road map to 2020” and “our blueprint for our City’s physical and economic development toward a safer and healthier environment.” /Aileen P. Refuerzo#