Mission Council has scheduled first reading of Genstar’s proposed neighbourhood one for August 11/08 and the public hearing for the plan on Oct. 21/08.  The massive subdivision on 445 acres of beautiful Silverhill proposes over 1400 houses. Genstar and Madison have already submitted a rezoning application, and Mission has been negotiating a phased development agreement with the proponents, both of which are also scheduled to go to public hearing at the same time.  A phased development agreement would effectively freeze the zoning on the plan for up to 20 years, thereby preventing future Councils from making changes to the plan or be required to compensate Genstar.  Councillor Horn stated that he is concerned that council may accept anything they are handed in order to ensure the plan is adopted before the municipal election Nov. /08.  Such recklessness and haste is indefensible and an affront to democracy.  All concerned Mission residents should attend the public hearing Oct. 21/08 and let council know, if they ram through the plan, they will not be getting re-elected.

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The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has officially withdrawn from the Silverdale planning process stating that “although DFO staff invested many hours on this process, there have been numerous occasions when our comments or suggestions were overlooked or not considered, or requests for clarification were unanswered. These comments and concerns were raised regarding the charette/design workshops, during the environmental base map review process, during development of the Environmental studies terms of reference, and when requests were made to comment on documents that were already outdated.” (DFO June 11/08). For DFO to withdraw at this stage signals a major problem with the Silverdale planning process in which Mission Council’s desperation to pass the plan before the next municipal election Nov. /08 is being given priority over cooperation with senior environmental ministries and responsible planning. Citizens who would like to read the full DFO report can find it on page 135 of District of Mission’s July 7/08 agenda.

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