In the fall of 2009, Williams Lake, B.C. launched Imagine Our Future, an initiative to develop a long-term vision of a sustainable Williams Lake. On behalf of The Natural Step Canada, Pong co-led a community planning process highlighted by innovative citizen engagement. In recognition of their sustainability leadership, the City of Williams Lake was honoured with the 2010 Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Community Planning Award. The City is now implementing their long-term vision via their Official Community Plan, Creating Our Future.
“He has a great ability; his depth of knowledge is incredible and he translates that into a language that we and our community understand. He has been responsive; we’ve stretched everyone on the team’s ability to think differently. This is important in context of overall project. We knew we couldn’t just cookie cutter principles into our community; we needed to make it our own. It was a process of learning each other’s language and bringing them together to make something work. Pong has done an amazing job of that.”