On Tuesday, WL Council will meet for the final time in 2011. Major Items on the Agenda include: (see full Agenda here)
a) Two Junior Councillors' to attend future Committee of the Whole meetings - see here
b) DP #6-2011 (Platform Properties) set for approval - see here and here (APC Report)
c) Council to apply to $30 million Community Recreation Fund to build an overpass at former Praxair location (near entrance to Home Hardware) and Staff will be directed to request CN to assist in the building of this overpass - see here
On Item 'C' - interesting WL Council has waited until the last possible moment to apply while other local governments in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, like Quesnel, 100 Mile House and the Cariboo Regional District, have already applied and are likely to receive more favourable consideration for their applications than Williams Lake
Also - there is a Public Hearing at 7:00pm for property at 555 Wotzke Drive. See the Agenda here. The applicants, Grosso Developments Ltd, is asking for a change in the zoning on this property from R-5 (Manufactured Home Park) to R-9 (Bare Land Strata). I intend to speak for a minute or two at the Public Hearing, indicating that while I don't take issue with the zoning change but I do take issue somewhat with process, as follows:
a) No APC Report at 2nd Reading for Bylaw #2155 (standard practice for WL Council is to have the APC Report ready at 2nd Reading). If no report was available then Staff, Mayor Cook or Councillor Zacharias (Planning and Ops Committee Chair) should have orally or in writing explained why the report was not available and why Council should proceed at this point without the APC Report
b) At 1st Reading - Staff presented to Council a proposal that the Public Hearing be held on a date in January 2012 however on Dec 6th - Council passed a motion (Resolution) that Bylaw #2155 be read a 2nd time and the Public Hearing be held on December 20th. Again - if you propose a date for a Public Hearing then call the Public Hearing sooner than the suggested Public Hearing date, then a simple explanation for the earlier Public Hearing date - either from Staff or Mayor Cook/Councillor Zacharias - either in writing (report) or orally, otherwise it doesn't appear "transparent". After all - this Public Hearing is being held 5 days before Christmas and most peoples' minds are wrapped up in the season rather than community development. If I was on Council today - I would have deferred this to the New Year to allow as many people as possible to be aware of this and offer input, if they so wish
When Williams Lake Council adjourns Tuesday -- all local governments in the Cariboo-Chilcotin will be on a Christmas Break until early January when Quesnel Council will be the first local government to meet in 2012 on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
SBF
3 comments:
"On Item 'C' - interesting WL Council has waited until the last possible moment to apply while other local governments in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, like Quesnel, 100 Mile House and the Cariboo Regional District, have already applied and are likely to receive more favourable consideration for their applications than Williams Lake".
You continue to show you have absolutely no clue Steve. The application will be in well before the deadline and will get the EXACT same consideration as every other application that was submitted. They don't even get looked at before the deadline, let alone anything decided.
Honestly, I think sometimes you don't even think before you criticize.
Thank you for your comment...
Before I justify my comment - I should be point that the deadline is *Dec 28th* and this application will have been submitted on *Dec 20th*. Keep in mind that the Community Recreation Fund is likely to be oversubscribed, like many other provincial/federal grants for local government and the earlier you get your application the better chance you get to get approval
But let's look at the timeline of events for this topic:
Aug 30th, 2011 - WL Council approves the Parks, Trails and Outdoor Master Recreation Plan
Sept 30th - BC Premier Christy Clark announces at UBCM Convention that local governments (municipal councils'/regional districts) can apply for local recreation projects via a $30 million Community Recreation Fund
Oct 14th - First date that applications may be submitted to Community Recreation Fund
Oct 26th - Central Cariboo Joint Committee meets and gives "approval-in-principle" to apply to the $30 million Community Recreation Fund with no specific project ID'd
Nov 17th - CRD Board agrees to submit 2 projects (North Cariboo Multi-Centre & Trails Project in South Cariboo) to Community Recreation Fund
Dec 12th - WL Council's "Community Services Committee" agrees to recommend to WL Council that it submit overpass project to Community Recreation Fund
Dec 20th - Council adopts recommendation from its' Community Services Committee
Notes:
a) Council had roughly 3 weeks in October to work with Central Cariboo Joint Committee and all of November to work on this file and could have found its' application at the top of the "pile" rather than the bottom, given it is fair to assume that most, if not, all local governments will try to submit an application to this Fund
The above, of course, is just my own opinion
And yes, I also read the Staff report first *BEFORE* formulating an opinion... and yes, I do attend all meetings of Council/Joint Committee so I do have a sense of what the issues are
Also - Have a Merry Christmas and see you in 2012! :)
Steve
Let me correct your "opinion" which is 100% incorrect.
Having been in the position of evaluating grant proposals for the BC government for many, many years and right up to last year before I retired and I can assure you with 100% certainty that all applications received before the deadline of any given grant program are given the EXACT same treatment.
In fact, it is illegal (yes, you can check this) to do so. If an application comes in before the deadline it doesn't matter if it's on day one or with 30 seconds left, it gets the same treatment. if it's late that's an entirely different story.
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