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Letter: Langley resident questions the Brookswood-Fernridge OCP process

A letter writer contends the community association has tried to hijack the process.
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Dear Editor,

Something doesn’t smell right here.

Have the Brookswood-Fernridge Community Association (BFCA) self appointed themselves as the latest planning consultants?

How is it that an anti-development political activist special interest group attempts to hijack the planning/consultation process behind the scenes?

I doubt the Public Engagement policy was intended to this purpose.

BFCA web site reveals that for several weeks prior to the public hearing, their “executive has met for several hours with senior Township planners and individually with the Mayor and members of Council… making every effort to garner support for a heavily regulated 2017 OCP…”

At the Public Hearing #2, BFCA’s executive members presented their proposal for hundreds of changes to the 2017 OCP, as an omnibus package so it can be called one amendment. It’s quite telling that Councillors Davis, Richter and Arnason are willing to do the bidding for this activist lobby group.

It’s no secret that the BFCA has been trying to stop and/or make it as difficult as possible for development. Their term “heavily regulated” is intended to make the 2017 plan so onerous as to be unfeasible for developers to operate. Unfortunately all the extra costs get transferred to purchasers of the lots.

Note that none of the executive of the BFCA live in the affected acreage areas they are so adamant in controlling. Most live in the developed area of Brookswood where they are unaffected by the extreme restrictions they want to impose on others. Why should they have such undue influence?

It’s evident they lobbied to exempt themselves (developed part of Brookswood) from the new proposed tree bylaw.

Everyone else must save and care for the trees at their own expense so the special protected group can look at them for free?

The 2017 Community Plan process (I was a member of the Planning Team) turned out to be a complete failure.

The so called “Minor Update of the 1987 Plan” morphed beyond the mandate into a full blown $400,000 botched 2017 Plan.

It’s not too late to admit the 2017 Plan is an overcomplicated confusing bad plan and unnecessary.

With council’s Public Hearing #2, the public spoke loud and clear. An approximately tally of Township public submissions, (spoken, written and signed petitions), shows 85 were in favour of the 2017 plan and an overwhelming 520 against it. Approximately 6 to 1 are against the 2017 Plan.

Now the question is… Will the council listen and re-defeat the 2017 Plan on this second go-around?

Roland Seguin, Fernridge