Local residents concerned about infill in Garibaldi Estates are organising a town hall meeting on the issue.
The town hall meeting will be held on November 24, from 7 pm to 9 pm, at the Howe Sound Secondary School gym.
COVID-19 protocols will be in place and vaccine cards will be checked.
Garibaldi Estates resident and organiser April Lowe,said there would be three short presentations on the topic of traffic, impact of densification in established neighbourhoods, and the need for a public review of OCP.
Lowe said there will be an open mic session for comments and questions, and the format will be traditional town hall environment where everyone will be heard.
Lowe said that wasn’t the case in an open house organised by the district last month. She said people were not allowed to ask questions during the presentation portion of the meeting.
At the end of the presentation, residents were sent to 8 different locations within the meeting space, where they could address concerns and have questions answered by eight town planners that were available.
This process divided us and did not allow the room to hear our thoughts, she added.
She said district officials assured the residents that densification wasn’t a done deal, but the open house process didn’t match the declaration.
Lowe is inviting the community to attend the town hall on November 24 so everyone can be heard on this issue.
David Colwell says
I absolutely agree with the concerns of the residents of the Garibaldi Estates regarding the unrelenting drive by Council and Staff to implement the concept of ‘Infilling’ in this area (more specifically the VLA properties). They are doing this under the guise of attenuation of ‘Climate Change’ and its looming effects. Also they are claiming it will solve the need for cheaper housing. BOTH are erroneous for all the stated reasons in recent discussion in our town. Both these issues will be further clarified at the advertised ‘Town Hall Meeting’. Council rests of the OCP which they have given District Staff full and unfettered reign to interpret with ‘blinkers employed’. On this issue it now seems that Staff has more power than Council which has not traditionally been the case in past years. Brennan and many other past Mayors would surely turn in their graves regarding this disturbing trend.