For all the hot air and newsprint expended on the Southlands over the last few years, precious little debate about the Century Group's plans has actually taken place in an official setting.
That's something Sean Hodgins wants to rectify.
The developer has hosted many meetings where his vision has been discussed in detail, but whenever the issue moves into the civic realm, whether that's during area plan sessions or even the public hearing on returning the property to the Agricultural Land Reserve, the talk turns general.
Hodgins' proposal is often referred to as the elephant in the room because speakers are told not to broach the subject, instructed instead to confine their comments to the wider issue of land use.
Not surprisingly, the Century president was looking for some assurances from civic politicians Monday night that the public would actually be given an opportunity to have its say on his latest proposal.
It should be noted it was municipal officials that invited Hodgins to submit a revised proposal, so it would be unfair to characterize them as unwilling to entertain the idea of Southlands development. However, up until that point it looked like they were auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance by the way they deftly sidestepped the issue.
Hodgins has spent a lot of time and money, much more than any developer I can recall, devising a project he, and many others, believe adds something to the community. He has consulted with the public countless times and in a variety of ways, attracting a sizable number of supporters along the way. To be fair, the plan still has its fair share of critics as well.
Maybe people will buy the result, pleased with the housing variety and the 400 acres turned over to public ownership. Maybe they won't, turned off by the idea of more congestion or the use of agriculturally zoned land for anything but farming.
Whatever the case, it's well past the time for public input. There are a lot of people with a lot to say, so there's not much point carrying on in the shadows, pretending the Century plan doesn't exist.
I recognize that any public meeting or hearing convened by Delta will, to put it mildly, draw a crowd and is bound to get a little testy. It's also guaranteed not to reach a consensus, so dipping your toes in that pool is fraught with problems.
So while I understand the reluctance to wade into the water, the time has come to finally give the public its turn.
