Archive for December, 2008
December 23, 2008 10:57 am
Despite 8 days of public input, most of it opposed to the development plan and 20 year legally binding Phased Development Agreement with Genstar, Mission council rammed through approval of 3rd reading of all 3 Silverdale bylaws Dec. 22/08 with minimal discussion and no changes. Council’s attempt to justify their disregard of any criticism of the plan was blatant and bizarre. The mayor and some councillors claimed that public concerns should have been submitted before the hearing implying that the hearing was too late to make changes. Clearly this claim fails to appreciate the purpose and importance of having a public hearing. Councillor Stevens attempted to rationalize council’s failure to address residents’ concerns about groundwater with the claim that Genstar will bring city water to the area, ignoring the impacts on area residents who will not receive any city water for decades. Councillor Stewart stated that the environmental studies were “good enough”, ignoring multiple reports and concerns by provincial and federal environmental ministry scientists who both warn that the current plan poses unacceptable risks to the fish and wildlife of the area, some of which are endangered. The mayor shocked many with the statement that acreages are not wanted in Mission confirming that current rural residents are in for hard times. Planning for Silverdale, once touted by council as innovative and progressive, is now being described by council as “good enough”, negating any opportunity to address issues revealed at the public hearing proactively. Instead, a multitude of costly problems arising from council’s reckless disregard for the public interest and its willingness to accept good enough sprawl for environmentally sensitive Silverdale, will no doubt be the final legacy of a tainted process directed by biased decision makers.
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December 17, 2008 9:06 am
A late item presented at Mission Council meeting Dec. 15/08 suggests Mission’s Director of Corporate Administration, Dennis Clark does not think much of 8 days of public input into the Silverdale bylaws. Mr. Clark’s memo lays out a schedule for proceeding with approval of the Genstar phase one development beginning Dec. 22 at which time council will accept the minutes of the public hearing and proceed to 3rd reading of the proposal. The memo states, if council passes third reading, the proposal will be sent for external approvals including the Inspector of Municipalities on Dec. 23. The Inspector’s approval is needed to pass the 20 year legally binding phased development agreement (PDA) between Mission and Genstar/Madison. Once the Inspector approves the PDA, Mr. Clark advises that council may proceed to adoption of the plan and the PDA. What is missing in this memo is any mention of what to do if council DOES NOT pass third reading, what to do if council requests any additional information or CHANGES to the plan on the basis of public input, or what to do if the Inspector does not approve the PDA. Perhaps Mr. Clark has already decided for council and the Inspector that 8 days of public input from concerned citizens is irrelevant. Perhaps Mr. Clark wishes to give Genstar an early Christmas gift.
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December 11, 2008 10:29 am
The Silverdale public hearings ended at about midnight Dec.10/08 after Mayor Atebe struck several names off the speaker’s list claiming that because these individuals had not used their full 12 minutes on a previous presentation, they were not permitted to make another presentation. He then announced that the hearing would continue until the few remaining names were exhausted.
There will be no more opportunity to submit information to council before they make their decision although strangely enough, contacting individual councillors is considered OK.
CAUSS would like to congratulate and thank all those who spoke at and attended the hearings. This was the only opportunity the public had to express and document the public perspective, and it was clear that the issues revealed by these presentations were very serious and important. The public has revealed serious gaps in the plan and in the PDA. Despite extensive marketing of the development as “environmentally responsible”, federal Fisheries and provincial Ministry of Environment scientists do not support the plan or the process. The stream setbacks proposed for this highly sensitive ecosystem are the minimum allowed under current legislation and do little to protect the habitat needs of non-aquatic endangered species. Council admitted the 20 year legally binding Phased Development Agreement was drafted for the benefit of Genstar and the amenities included in the agreement are of little or no benefit to the rest of Mission.
Some speakers were clearly harassed and censored by the Mayor and Councillor Stevens, who appeared to be spending much of her time listening to tapes of past presentations, rather than the speakers in front of her, and then interrupted speakers with accusations that they were repeating themselves. Many speakers stated they felt attacked or intimidated. This sad state of affairs does not diminish in any way the importance of what was said and does not negate the need for the public interest to be protected.
It is now up to council to at least appear to deliberate, and act on the publics’ concerns. Given Genstar’s recent position that they will not start for at least 2 years due to the economic downturn, there really is no excuse for council to ignore citizen’s concerns.
CAUSS recommends that all Silverdale residents arrange to have their wells tested as soon as possible, and keep records of their wells’ water quality and quantity.
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December 8, 2008 12:19 pm
The Silverdale Public hearings resume Tuesday Dec. 9, 6:30 at the Best Western. No doubt, council is expecting a poor turnout due to the time of year and disappointing election results. Despite the election, nothing has changed. The plan fails to satisfy both provincial and federal ministry scientists (see dfo_oct_17_08 & moe_oct_21_08) and the financing is uncertain given Genstar’s statement that the current PDA is not viable for them (see genstar_sept29_08 ). The problem with this process is that the public interest has been completely left out of planning. The Neighbourhood Planning Advisory Committee (NPAC), which should have been representing the public, included the proponents and a number of people with a vested interest in the development. CAUSS attended a meeting where NPAC openly admitted that they did not represent the public and public comments, submitted during the various open houses, were barely considered.
Because the public have been left out, the Public Hearing has become a critical forum for expressing and documenting public concerns. So far, the hearings have revealed the negligence of Mission in not having its own project manager, not conducting any risk assessment whatsoever, not addressing resident concerns about ground water contamination, not including seniors housing or affordable housing options, worsening the resident:employment ratio in our community (so even more people have to commute out of mission to work than before), risking our air quality, etc. etc. etc.
Genstar recently told Mission that they have no intention of starting for at least 2 years due to current market conditions (pg 12. Nov.24/08 DOM Council agenda). Why then is there such a rush to approve this plan and lock us in for 20 years, before the public and ministry concerns are addressed?
People need to attend the Public Hearing and continue to present the public concerns as well as support citizens in making their presentations.
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