In my last column I began a review of how the Marina Garden Estates modification application was approved in spite of the general opposition from current residents of the development and, in my view, the majority of people in Ladner.
I suggested that no Delta council should again approve a development to occur 17 years in the future.
In this column I will comment on the public hearing process for this development.
Ideally a public hearing is held to allow persons whose property will be affected by a development application to present their comments or questions directly to council. However the current council has allowed these hearings to become intricately staged events in which the expression of public opinion is frustrated.
I attended the first night of the Marina Gardens hearing at municipal hall - a small venue. There was no room for the press at the press table, so I had to stand near the door to the foyer. It quickly became evident that most of the persons seated in the council chamber supported the application, while most of those seated outside in the foyer were local residents who opposed it.
(My own experience is that if Mayor Lois Jackson doesn't want to see you, you get sent to sit in the foyer until you tire of it and leave; so I wasn't surprised to see the residents opposing the application relegated to the foyer.) The development company is a very competent organization, and it evidently arranged for its supporters to arrive early, sign up to speak first and get seats in the council chamber.
Many of these initial speakers had literate and polished presentations. Several were young people from other communities who had driven to Delta just to support the development.
It was alleged in the local press that the developer had brought in some or all of these speakers. In any case, the impression given that first night was that there was considerable public support for the development, and that hordes of young and old people living in Surrey and Langley wished they could live in a row house in Ladner.
I understand the actual Ladner residents, who had to watch these presentations on TVs in the foyer, got to speak the second night; but it was the first night that got reviewed in the press. I concluded the developer was an active participant in the public hearing process and competently presented whatever support it could gather. The residents arrived late and were relegated to the foyer. They never had a chance.
The conclusions that I draw are (1) the public hearing system in Delta is flawed, and (2) real residents should arrive early, sign up to speak and grab the best seats. If the mayor sends you to the foyer, make a lot of noise or go home. You are out of the process.
In the next column, I shall review how council voted and whom the residents of Marina Garden Estates voted for in the last municipal election. It's a case of you get what you vote for.
