967 pages
Posted by Steven Hurdle on May 3, 2008
You can imagine my surprise when I downloaded the agenda for Monday’s 7 PM Council Meeting: 967 pages. I guess City Hall expects people to cancel all their plans for the weekend, as it’s not exactly a light read.
Three days to read 967 pages is pretty unreasonable. Many people won’t even want to wait for it to download. Can’t download it? City Hall offered paper copies, for a $20 charge, but the document became available midday Friday and then closed for the weekend at 4:30. It’s available no charge to read at City Hall, but how can you read 967 pages while standing at the “Administration and Finance” counter?
Even outside agencies (neighbouring municipalities, school boards, etc.) that must be consulted on an OCP change don’t appear to have been given enough notice to get their comments in on time for the public hearing (after all, only 10 business days are passing between posting of the final draft on the website and Monday night’s meeting).
Despite the tight timelines, the importance of the document cannot be denied as “Every parcel of land within the City of Langford is affected by Bylaw Nos. 1200 and 1201,” according to Langford’s classified ad (placed to meet the legal advertising requirements for the meeting). Is 10 days enough time for people to digest something that affects every single parcel of land in Langford? Will the electorate feel well served by their representatives if the voters aren’t given enough time to even read, let alone digest the information and comment on the proposals? Why should the voters be rushed through these huge documents of tremendous importance?
I believe it is not reasonable to go so quickly from final draft to public hearing, because after the public hearing our Council by law is no longer allowed to hear submissions from the public on the bylaw. I would encourage every resident of Langford to attend this public hearing. Let’s show them that there is strong interest in what they’re doing. Perhaps if enough people show up, the fire chief will have to step in and postpone the proceedings to another day due to the need for a bigger venue. I can dream, right?
- Steven Hurdle -
langford newby said
Wonder if they’ll set another time-setting record going through all that business! With their record, 20 minutes oughta about cover it.
Think I might mosey on down to this little shindig and watch them transcend time. I should still be home in time to watch 2 1/2 Men….. or if I’m lucky, last Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. My head is reeling at the idea that ANYONE can do justice to an agenda that long in one night, unless the decisions are already made and they are simply paying lip service to the issues for the sake of appearances. Somehow this doesn’t seem to follow democratic process. If I speak, will anyone at the front be listening, or are they working on their grocery lists instead since they have already made up their minds? I bet if it wasn’t required by law, they would have ALL their meetings in camera so that we wouldn’t be able to waste their time on our petty little problems. After all Big Brother knows best…. and we’re all idiots in their eyes.