Editor: An open letter to Mayor Borrowman and Canmore councillors: As concerned citizens of Canmore, we are writing to respectfully request that you extend the October target deadline for passing the new Municipal Development Plan which was just rele
Editor:
An open letter to Mayor Borrowman and Canmore councillors:
As concerned citizens of Canmore, we are writing to respectfully request that you extend the October target deadline for passing the new Municipal Development Plan which was just released last week at the Aug. 18 council meeting.
Timing: Many people are out of town. September is an extremely busy month with parents, teachers and school staff, and business owners/workers alike getting children back-to-school, enrolled in lessons, signed up for teams, etc.
Insufficient notice: None of us were expecting this document. It was not mentioned in the mayor's Outlook column (Aug. 6), nor was it announced on the Town of Canmore page in two Outlooks (Aug. 6, Aug. 13) prior to its release. It was only after the council meeting that it was mentioned on the Town page in the Outlook.
Accessibility: The document is not easy to find. We searched under several headings on the Town website (including news and publications, hot topics, town publications, town council, municipal sustainability, municipal services: planning, building, developing, and even events and schedules), but could not find it.
In the end, we found it by using Google (to those wishing to read the document - and we encourage everyone to do so - it is under bylaws, scroll down past 48 bylaws to Municipal Development Plan, click on 2015 Draft MDP v1.) For those who do not own computers or printers, the Town office has not made hard copies readily available.
Massive impact: None of us were aware or expecting the depth and scope of this document which has the ability to change forever the face of Canmore as we know it. Should it pass as-is, all areas of Canmore are open for development (according to a town planner with whom one of us spoke). R1 residential neighborhoods can disappear through rezoning. In exchange for non-market affordable housing, numerous variances can be granted to developers as never before, “including but not limited to FAR, parking, building height, architectural design, and landscaping” (5.2.3) and a reduction in “Municipal Reserve dedication”, i.e., green space and parks (5.2.5). The focus is quite clearly stated in 5.1.4: “Such variances should only be refused where it is determined there is a severe (our emphasis) negative impact on the neighbourhood that outweighs the net community benefit.”
Let us be clear: we are not against affordable housing. We simply want - and it is our right - to understand the implications of this document on all our neighbourhoods before it is approved by council.
This is more than an MDP; it is a document of social engineering. As such, citizens have a right and expectation of sufficient time to examine the document, ask meaningful questions, and receive from the Town concise, precise answers. Scheduling the second and third readings for October 2015 does not allow for this process.
M.B. Laviolette, Carla Cumming, John Kende, Douglas MacLean, Eva Kende and Hugh Tafel,
Canmore
