EDITORIAL
Getting it right for the next 10 years in Colwood
Getting stuck. We’re all familiar with that feeling. Something digs in and you just can’t seem to get past it.
When that happens on a political level the slowdown can impact an entire community. Such has been the case in Colwood this year where a long drawn out tangled struggle between staff, some members of council, and various stakeholders (particularly developers) appears to still be hobbling the process of Official Community Plan (OCP) approval.
Most of us don’t think about OCPs every day. They are usually bulky, detailed documents that offer lofty ideas about community mission and use jargon about things like zoning bylaws, and are mostly found sitting on the bookshelves of administrators and politicians.
But as a vision statement by which infrastructure, housing and neighbourhood amenities are guided, an OCP looms large in all of our lives. All the more reason for elected leaders to want to get it right. And in the subtext: do they want to do this ahead of the fall 2018 municipal election, or leave an opportunity open for a new council with a four-year term into 2022?
The public in Colwood has had ample opportunity for input (the extensive ‘Making Waves’ public input process in 2016-2017). That input falls within the realm of ideas, hopes, and suggestions. In the hands of the city staff and council that information gets shaped with the goals and vision of the elected leaders. Reminder, this is where the rubber hits the road when you vote (next municipal election across BC is on October 20, 2018). Sometimes singular decisions at the council table will affect you as a resident and taxpayers for years, even decades.
As Vancouver Island-based planning and development consultant Mark Holland said recently, an OCP “done incorrectly” can set a road map to “increased taxes, unachievable goals, cynicism, politicization, infrastructure problems, safety hazards and loss of economic development”.
When it comes to developers — the ones who have the money and verve to build big things like apartment buildings and community amenities, well too bad there is a taint of toxicity in Canadian thought that translates into distrust of this distinct sector of the economy. These new housing units that everyone wants don’t go up by magic. Many people get their hands dirty to build them, and developers take a financial risk for which they should not be begrudged the profit (that’s their paycheque for the undertaking the stress of politics, construction management, and answering to the big banks).
Whatever Colwood council ultimately decides is beyond anyone’s control. What matters is the process ahead of that, which should not be effectively dismissing qualified advice (offered free) by the west shore development community.
Developers are sounding the alarm that new proposed OCP as it presently stands would push up the cost of housing in Colwood in ways that can still be avoided. That should matter to everyone.
The next Regular Meeting of Colwood Council is on Monday, May 28 at 7 pm in council chambers.
~ This editorial first published in the May 25, 2018 issue of West Shore Voice News.
Back to the Colwood breaking news page | Back to the EDITORIALS landing page | Back to the main page of this website