Editor: Council passed the Brookswood - Fernridge 2017 Community Plan at council meeting October 23, 2017. Just what did they find so illuminating to reverse their previous decision?
During the presentation to council by the planning staff, regarding the public hearings, the explanation of the public submissions appeared to make it look like the public was close to split on (for or against) the 2017 Plan.
They completely discarded the 390-person majority who signed petitions against the 2017 plan. When you include the petition signatures, it was an overwhelming 6 to 1 against the 2017 Plan.
It appears disingenuous to say the least as it is discrediting all of those petition people. How is it not a disregard of the Mayors Public Engagement Policy?
Many people can’t attend the public hearings or are unable to publicly speak for whatever reasons.
They consider their name address and signatures on a petition attached to a written submission to validly represent their viewpoint.
Council and staff gave far too much emphasis to the pet peeves of the Brookswood-Fernridge Community Association’s re: changing “should’s to shall’s”.
Were the other hundreds of community members and their concerns not worthy of discussion or consideration?
My previous observation of the BFCA attempting to hijack the planning process appears valid. This group does not represent a reasonable number of the community as their fancy website shows they have never had a meeting with more than six members since their inception.
It’s water under the bridge now as the council has decided, however, how are we supposed to have confidence in the process when it is manipulated so?
Roland Seguin
Fernridge