Steve Rant - Outcome of July 20th WL Council Meeting

Last night, Williams Lake Council gave 1st reading to Zoning Amendment Bylaw #2119 (Westridge Ventures Ltd) which will see property owned by Westridge Ventures Ltd rezoned from R-5 (Manufactured Home Park) to R-1 (Single Family Residential) if this Bylaw is adopted

During Council discussion on this item, City Councillor Sue Zacharias raised some concerns about a trail as part of this residential development and she stated she hoped that the City's APC (Advisory Planning Commission) would make recommendations on the trail as part of APC's recommendation on whether or not Zoning Amendment Bylaw #2119 proceeds to 2nd reading

A small problem with Councillor Zacharias's request is that Council did not formally ask APC to look at this trail as part of their recommendation on whether or not Bylaw #2119 proceed to 2nd reading

Section 6(a) of APC Bylaw #1704 states:

The Advisory Planning Commission shall have no authority to act on any matter. It shall be the duty of the Commission to advise Council on matters referred to them by the staff of the City of Williams Lake, City Council, or the Administrator.

As a Vice-Chair of the City's APC, it would be hard for me to bring up the trail issue if Staff don't bring it up themselves or Council refers the issue directly to APC as I'm the only member of APC that directly attends Council meetings so I would be aware of Council's concern but yet APC members wouldn't have access to the same concern information. In addition, Geoff Goodall briefed Council last night on the issue of the trail as part of Westridge's proposal and he rarely attends APC Meetings. Traditionally, the City Planner attends APC meetings and as both of the City's Planner were not in attendance at last night's Council meeting, it would be hard to raise the matter when both City Planners' have no knowledge of the discussions' that took place

If Council wanted to have APC's input on the trail as part of Zoning Bylaw #2119, then they should have either referred the matter to APC directly or request City Staff to brief APC on the matter and APC then could have provided their advice on the matter as part of whether or not APC recommends Bylaw #2119 proceeds to 2nd reading. In addition, Councillor Zacharias could have chosen to come to APC (APC meets at noon and would work well with Councillor Zacharias' work schedule) as APC is part of her Portfolio and raise her concerns directly with APC