Re: Small lot developments in North Saanich.
Mr. Lunn and the pro-development councillors express dismay that citizens of North Saanich still express opposition to their proposals.
This opposition is founded in the refusal of council to re-visit the Official Community Plan (OCP) on the grounds this would be too time consuming.
Perhaps council’s refusal is based on the probability that in a revision of the OCP citizens might be opposed to small lots and ad hoc development.
Mr. Lunn admonishes Mayor (Alice) Finall for doing her job, stating that “she no longer holds a majority on council and should move on.”
However in the Federal election, the two parties that support OCPs and their planning principles, the Greens and the NDP, were in the clear majority, and Ms. May defeated Mr. Lunn to become MP.
In the provincial election, the two parties that support OCPs, the Greens and the NDP, earned two-thirds of the votes, and Mr. Holman became the first NDP MLA for the region.
The principles of an OCP are designed to withstand one-off electoral flukes like the current council.
It is only by avoiding procedure that Mr. Lunn’s development is progressing. Indeed, one could speculate that if the pro-development councillors had made their proposals clear during the 2011 municipal election, they may not have been elected. This is particularly true of the calculated and rapid removal of Mayor Finall from the CRD board — if we’d known that was a plan would there be a pro-development majority?
Moreover, one councilor who ran as an independent has been anything but, voting consistently with the pro-development slate.
Citizens continue to hope that this council will respect the wishes of the community as expressed in their OCP and instead of looking after the short term needs of property speculators like Mr. Lunn, they will look after the long term needs of the entire community.
Bert Slater
North Saanich