qathet Regional District (qRD) directors have voted for public engagement with residents of Electoral Areas A, B and C to explore pros and cons of land use regulation.
At the September 23 regional board meeting, directors considered a contract with Arlington Group Planning for $23,365 to deliver the public engagement.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he had two issues with the recommendation. He said the pandemic hasn’t ended, the community is increasingly divided and sometimes downright hostile.
“Currently, a vaccine passport is required for anyone looking to attend an indoor event of more than 50 people,” said Gisborne. “It makes it difficult for elected officials such as ourselves to hold an in-person town hall. In my opinion, if less than 50 people attend the public engagement we’re planning to host, then we haven’t adequately engaged with the public.
“If more than 50 people attend, we run the risk of discrimination against those who don’t have a vaccine passport.”
Gisborne said cases of COVID-19 are climbing provincially and some community members might not feel comfortable congregating indoors.
“I find it to be inappropriate to be moving forward with public engagement on such an important issue at a time like this,” said Gisborne. “We need to hear the voices of the entire community.”
Gisborne said with regard to his second issue, he would like clarification from the chair. He said when directors receive a report related to a motion, directors are not allowed to discuss contents of the report. He said discussion of contents have been repeatedly ruled out of order in such cases.
“The motion before us states, ‘to deliver a public engagement process with residents of Electoral Areas A, B and C to explain the pros and cons of land-use regulation, taking into consideration the options included in feasibility study land use and development regulatory options final report dated April 2020,’” said Gisborne. “Is the content of this report allowed to be discussed here in public?”
Electoral Area A director and board chair Patrick Brabazon said his initial take is that discussion about the feasibility study would be inappropriate.
qRD corporate officer Michelle Jones said the regional district’s procedure bylaw requires that members keep their comments germane to the matters at hand.
“That means the comments to debate must be closely related to the motion,” said Jones. “It would be up to the membership to decide if the comments made by the member were germane to the debate.”
Brabazon said he was going to ask the board to vote on whether or not it would discuss the report from April 2020.
City director George Doubt said the discussion has to be germane to the motion that’s on the agenda and the report was not on the agenda.
Brabazon said he thought the board consensus was that the report would not be discussed.
Gisborne said the report was on the agenda.
Brabazon said it was a background document for the motion before the board, but he ruled that it is out of order to discuss the feasibility study.
Gisborne said he would address his second concern but would not reference the study.
“I’m not opposed to having an open and honest discussion with the public about land-use regulations,” said Gisborne. “I have concerns with this process as it appears the plan is to bring additional regulations in phases. Residents may be convinced to sign up to phase one without being made aware of the impacts of subsequent phases and regulations, and why things like building permits would eventually become necessary under additional regulatory burdens.”
Chair rules director out of order
Gisborne then started saying: “the report, which I won’t mention…,” at which time Brabazon interjected and said Gisborne was out of order.
“You’re playing games with this one,” said Brabazon. “I’m going to rule you out of order.”
Gisborne said he was challenging the chair. He asked what was out of order?
“Or is it that you just don’t want me to talk? asked Gisborne. “Is that what you are saying, because I am looking at the motion and I think what I am talking about is germane to this motion.”
Brabazon said he was asking Gisborne to be quiet.
Gisborne said he was confused.
“Yes, I’ll believe that,” said Brabazon. “You have challenged the chair so there will be a motion for the board.”
Brabazon then called the vote on whether the ruling of the chair should be sustained, and it passed, with Gisborne and Electoral Area director Andrew Fall opposed.
City director CaroleAnn Leishman said she thought the public engagement process would take some time and was confident the consultant would undertake a number of different delivery options for members of the rural areas to engage in the process.
“They will have a very robust process in tackling this situation, so I support it,” said Leishman.
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said it makes sense for the Arlington Group to undertake the engagement because they are familiar with the issues, and she thinks it would make a lot of sense to have them conduct the public engagement process.
qRD anager of planning services Laura Roddan said the timeline for the project would have a hoped-for completion by the end of 2021.
“Health directives could have an impact on how we roll out the engagement, but Arlington Group is well versed in delivering engagement online and we are anticipating some nice engagement materials that will be mailed to everybody, so it will be a robust engagement process,” said Roddan. “If the health directives become more restrictive, then we’ll have to defer the timeline.”
The board voted for the service contract for public engagement on land use and development regulatory options in Electoral Area A, B and C, with Gisborne opposed.
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