Item 6 on the Agenda of Planning and Environment Committee of April 24, 2007 concerned the Scope and Timing of the Review of the Official Plan, the Transportation Master Plan and the Infrastructure Master Plan. The Greenspace Alliance made this submission:
To: Chair Peter Hume and Members of Planning and Environment Committee
Given the importance of the Official Plan, we find it disturbing that this document seems to downplay the role that should be played by the public in this process. I acknowledge that our organization was notified of the intention of the Planning Department to start the process re the Official Plan review in the spring and that it would concentrate on the areas noted in this document. However we believe consultation with the broad public should be the place to start not just advisory groups and interest groups such as ours.
We therefore suggest that a plan for broad public consultation on where the City’s priorities re planning should lie and what the city’s goals and principles for the Official Plan should be, must be the first step, even if it is just to confirm that those articulated in the 2003 Plan are still valid.
We are entering an era which may include significant changes in climate and in other variables such as the cost of energy and the plan may need to be more completely rethought to meet those challenges. The citizens of the city deserve the chance to set the tone of the new plan and these plans do not seem to suggest that they will be given that chance.
Time is getting short before the summer but we suggest large ads and a call for all concerned about the future of the city to come to express their ideas in a Forum before the end of June.
The Report to Committee and Council is here. Amy Kempster spoke for the Alliance. The Minutes of the Committee meeting are here. Councillors stuck to a Fall timeline for consultations.