BAGUIO City Councilor Mylen Yaranon called on the local government to look at the carrying capacity of the city in terms of population to make the necessary studies on development and how it would be planned and managed.
In the weekly Talakayan sa Environment Code, Yaranon stressed based on the latest study conducted by the National Economic Development Authority - Cordillera, the maximum carrying capacity of the city has reached 600,000 as compared to the present day time population of 450,000 to 500,000.
Because of this, the lawmaker said there is a need to study the integration of the present multifaceted plans which would help in making the appropriate plans for the future.
“Being a lawmaker, I realized that our environmental code, comprehensive land use plan, our CDRRM (City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management) plan are not one. They should be married including our zoning and not individual planning that does not compensate with each other,” Yaranon said.
The city’s comprehensive environment code, added Yaranon, will serve as a guide for stakeholders for the preservation and protection of the city’s environment concerns particularly the city’s land, air and water as well as the parks and public places so that their current state will be significantly improved for the benefit of city residents.
The comprehensive land use plan (Clup) charts the city’s physical and economic development with the aim of preserving the city’s ecological balance.
In 2015, Baguio City required the activation of the CDRRMC OpCen along with the mobilization of its members to respond to effects of impending disasters like typhoons, floods, sinkholes, landslides, fallen trees and other cases which may cause closure of main and barangay roads and damagees to properties and infrastructure.
“With the help of Arch. Jody Alabanza, Colleen Laxamana and other stakeholders as consultants, we will make a resolution which will really marry and converge our present environment code, Clup, zoning, and CDRRMC plan to be the basis of development, management and preservation of our environment,” Yaranon said.
Zoning ordinance protect the character and stability of residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, watersheds, open space and other functional areas including heritage buildings/sites within the locality and promote the orderly and beneficial development of the same.
The lawmaker added part of the ordinance is to converge the plans of the BLISTT areas which would be in unison with each other, the re-inclusion of the no mining in Baguio City section of the environment code and the focus on the population growth of the city in making the coordinative plans for the city.