- Target:
- North Cowichan Councillors
- Region:
- Canada
- Website:
- Cowichanworks.ca
Do not change the award winning Bell McKinnon Local Area Plan! Why would tax payers agree to effectively flush hundreds of thousands of dollars down the toilet? This what councillors Marsh, Justice and Douglas are trying to achieve by omitting the current plan and starting over. The Bell McKinnon LAP was developed with input form North Cowichan staff, residents, business owners, landowners and First Nations. The plan received the Gold Award in Policy Planning at the Land Summit meeting in Vancouver in 2019. The plan was recognized for being a "model green growth centre that is vibrant, walkable urban village". There are applications currently sitting dormant at the municipality that would responsibly build multifamily homes with park area and walking trails just as the plan required. These councillors are arbitrarily trying to cancel the plan and start over. We are currently in a housing crisis and building a billion dollar hospital and an elementary school. How does limiting growth and requiring newcomers to drive from places like Langford and Victoria GREEN? A representative from Vancouver Island Health Authority stated their concerns at a recent council meeting that they already have lost doctors because they cannot find homes in the area. How do we intend to house the 700+ hospital staff including doctors and nurses and the several hundred people it will take to build the hospital when we cannot even house our current families?
We, the undersigned, call on the North Cowichan Council members to reconsider their position to cancel or amend the current Bell McKinnon Local Area Plan. We, as taxpayers, do not wish to start the entire process over when hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent to research and design this award winning green plan. The current housing crisis will be made more dire if the local area plan is reduced and delayed further. We cannot attract doctors, nurses and support staff if they have no housing to live in nearby. Making them drive in from Urban areas will be adding to our carbon footprint.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Save the award winning Bell McKinnon Local Area Plan petition to North Cowichan Councillors was written by Concerned Cowichan Citizens and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.