The public won’t be able to comment on issues once the City of New Westminster has set a public hearing date.
City clerk Jan Gibson has recommended council approve a procedure that restricts people from addressing council on matters after its public hearing date has been set. Instead of appearing before council, the city will implement an option for delegates to provide their contact information so staff can follow up on their concerns.
Until now, people have been able to appear as delegations and speak to council about matters that will be coming forward at future public hearings.
Sapperton resident Catherine Cartwright emailed council members a letter Monday morning urging them not to support the staff recommendation. She is “completely opposed” to the changes.
Cartwright said council candidates campaigned about more and better community engagement, something she said isn’t achieved by cutting off opportunities to be heard.
“What was the genesis of this recommended change? Is this proposal not a retrograde step in your plan for a more open and transparent local government?” she said. “The proposal is plain wrong as it extends the delegation gag order by weeks and months and completely tilts the development process in favour of developers … as citizens will be forbidden from talking (at a council meeting) about their concerns with a project long before the public hearing.”
Cartwright appealed council not to accept the staff recommendations to “expand the gag limits” on discussing proposed developments during delegation times, saying the policy unduly limits citizens’ rights to make public comments on proposed developments within New Westminster.
Coun. Lorrie Williams disagrees that the change will lead to less transparency at city hall.
“I think on the contrary,” she said. “It increases our opportunities to hear from the public in a balanced and fair way.”
Williams said “people who are well organized” seem to get more time to make their views known to council. She said the new policy gives council a chance to hear from all parties at one time.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said there have been cases where several people have appeared as delegations and represented one side of an issue prior to a public hearing, while those having a different viewpoint didn’t attend because the item wasn’t on that meeting’s agenda.
“I think this is a good way of keeping the balance,” he said.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said one of the principles of public hearings is having a level playing field for everyone.
“This is an attempt to try and be fair to everyone in the city,” he said.
Coun. Mary Trentadue said the change isn’t intended on “shutting down” the public process, but is a way of helping to better organize information received by council from staff and residents. She said it’s important for council to get that information at the same time, rather than having some people present information months before a public hearing.
Along with approving the new policy, council has also approved an amended delegation form that people must sign when they want to address council. It states that submission on land-use bylaws, such as official community plan amendments, rezonings, etc., aren’t permitted after a public hearing has been scheduled for the bylaw, unless the bylaw has either been adopted or defeated.
Trentadue asked that the city “be sensitive” to the change and recognize some people coming to council may not be aware of the change.
She doesn’t want them to be shut down and embarrassed if they come before council and are unaware of the new process.
