On April 25 Council agenda there is a report with the Planning response to Bill 109: proposed Planning Act changes –more homes for everyone. The topic is very complex and very unfortunately there has been little time to review the report as it was tabled March 30 with feedback required by April 29. From my read of the report staff has been very professional but very pointed in there criticism of various aspects; and they have been gracious enough to indicate how some very ill advised proposals could be modified so that the negative consequences would be less. Given what is proposed in bill 109 it is evident that the municipalities are being blamed for the “housing crisis.” The proposed fix is to reduce discretion of municipalities as to where and what should be built and to make decisions more quickly. If decisions are not made more quickly there will be financial penalties. In order to make decisions more quickly public engagement will need to be eliminated. As reviewed in the report there are no incentives nor penalties for developers in response to quality of information provided in submissions or in timeliness in responding to questions. I urge you to review the report in order to understand how our communities are at great risk. As always you can submit comments or register for making a deputation by contacting clerks@king.ca by noon on Monday April 25.
Having a centralized, autocratic governing body making fast decisions that affect people outside their own jurisdictions/constituents is undemocratic and subject to undue influence from a self-serving parties as they have/buy access to an elite few. Bill 109 is a dangerous slippery slope to autocracy/oligarchy – and that’s not hyperbole!