If you want to understand how elected officials play second fiddle to city administration, it was on full display during the Monday, Feb. 3 council meeting.
That was the big night the Official Community Plan (OCP), now in the works for two years, was to pass its first and second readings.
Intended to be the guiding document for the future of our city, this document calls for crazy things like mowing down hundreds of hectares of forest around UNBC, all the way up to the southeast corner of Shane Lake.
Say goodbye to those greenway trails and the “Green University” claims.
How did that get in there, and what can elected officials do about it?
Our elected representatives on council, who got the final working copy of the document in their agenda package just five days prior, realistically had one evening to pass resolutions adjusting the plan.
The public was equally in the dark.
Other than a couple of Facebook posts, the first one on Jan. 30 and one on Feb. 3, there wasn’t much to get the public engaged. The OCP page on the city’s website wasn’t updated. Nor did the city put out a press release.
It is true the public hearing would not be until Feb. 26, at which time we common folk could have our say. But it would have been mostly for show. As city staff explained at the Feb. 3 meeting, council wouldn’t have been able to make simple amendments to the plan after listening to the public and call it a day. Any changes at that point would have to go back for more public hearings, delaying the process and wasting more time.
In short, the most significant time for political oversight of administration’s plan was the second reading on Feb. 3.
So why rush it through?
There were two public hearings that evening on separate developments, eating up valuable time. Coun. Brian Skakun was away on vacation, leaving a senior councillor out of the fray.
Meanwhile, over at the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, the budget was underway, eating up the attention of some of the councillors.
All of this, and staff decided it was a good evening to also schedule a closed meeting right after the regular council meeting, which was expected to run late as it was.
It really felt like council was being manipulated into a hasty process where the public and elected officials could be sidelined.
Luckily, second reading didn’t happen. Late in the night Coun. Tim Bennett dropped the idea of pushing it to the regular council meeting of Feb. 24, meaning the public hearing will be delayed until some time in March.
I’m hoping this gives councillors more time to have a list of amendments ready for discussion. I’m also hoping the city publishes the OCP on its website and that the public takes the time to check it out, especially the maps, and lets city councillors and the mayor know what they think.
Regarding Ginter’s Green, there is good news there - the roads through our beloved park are no longer on the road network, but it doesn’t appear a lot of the meadow is officially a park yet.
More official protection for Ginter’s should be added.
The expansion of development along Tyner Boulevard, including behind UNBC right up to Shane Lake, as mentioned, is another thing on the map that city staff came up with that I don’t think the public is on board with. Nor do I think our city’s fiscal capacity is on board with more subsidies for out-of-town developers and their expensive sprawl and loss of greenspace.
In short, this whole process has been disappointing and the impression I’m left with is our elected politicians and the taxpaying public aren’t really in control.
Administration and developers are.
James Steidle is a Prince George writer.
