Haldi Residents Question Lack of Notification
Friday, February 15, 2013 @ 1:50 PM
Prince George, B.C. – Residents of the Haldi Road area who are involved in a battle with the city over the proposed location of a therapeutic recovery centre in their neighborhood have been taken totally by surprise by the latest development in this matter.
The spokesperson for Haldi residents, Laura Jagodnik, says her understanding is that it was anticipated council, at next Monday’s meeting, was to give third reading to a rezoning bylaw which, when combined with an Official Community Plan Amendment bylaw, would allow for the development of the centre at the old Haldi Road school. Instead, council will now be asked to rescind 2nd reading of the rezoning bylaw passed in December and pass an amended bylaw which includes specific wording in the definition of a therapeutic community care facility. City planner Deanna Wasnik says the definition should be re-worded to better reflect the proposed OCP amendment.
Jagodnik says she was in contact with Wasnik earlier this week “and she made no mention of this. We just found out (Thursday) and so I phoned her to explain this to me and I have not yet received a response. We’re kind of lost right now. We were not notified even though I was talking open email with her and I must say they’ve been not overly giving us the information and I feel this should be information that the neighborhood should have known about.” Jagodnik says Haldi residents are concerned about the delays in this process. “We’re getting very frustrated, to say the least.”
The Haldi spokesperson says residents also wonder when the public hearing on the centre and the OCP amendment is going to be held. “They have to post a sign at the school site ten days prior to the hearing and that’s what we do. We just do a quick walk around and see, oh, no sign it must not be this Monday but I always email Deanna just to confirm it. What we’re worried about as a community is that there is a city council meeting during the March break, and we’re hoping that this is not being put at that time because that’s when the community, most people are gone on holidays with their families.” She says she has emailed that concern to the Wasnik, who said she would pass it on, but there still has been no response. Jagodnik says there has been no transparency regarding this issue.
She also says “it’s important the people of Prince George are aware of how, from the very, very beginning, it’s going on two years now, and this is how it’s been the whole time. We feel like we’re always playing catch-up. And it’s no longer about the women’s recovery centre, and that’s sad to say because there’s some very supportive groups out there that want to get this up and running and we support that. This is now about the City going in and changing OCP and then spot rezoning to allow a special interest group to do something. This is just about the procedure now and it’s wrong the way they’re going about doing this.”
Jagodnik says the Haldi residents will have representatives at Monday’s city council meeting.
Comments
Why is the city so determined to pass the Haldi road centre? I can’t begin to add up all the money that this city has spent to try and get this pushed through. Everytime this goes to council you know there has been hundreds of city staff and lawyers hours spent on it. It’s not just the few hours we see council dealing with it.
They lost in court (more $$$$) and are willing to rezone the entire city just to get this one place through. It doesn’t make sense. I must be missing something here…..
And even if they get the rezoning they haven’t said how they are going to deal with the lack of water, sewer, and shitty roads.
My question is why are you talking to a staff member at the City about this issue. The discussion, debate and decisions will be made by council.
Communicating with a City planner and expecting them to divulge anything is rather niave. They cannot refuse to talk to you, but there should be no expectation that you would learn something before i happens…I would suggest that dialogue be with the City Manager regarding updates, etc…that is where the rubber meets the road!!!
Good point – but when the proponents get advanced notice and assistance with every step of the process it gives quite a bad impression. And good luck getting anything out of the City Manager without her asking Queen Green what her response should be first.
Once again this is the city working for their own agenda and not the public. There is not one thing that happens at city hall that is transparent or is what it appears to be.. except maybe skakun. It becomes clearer and clearer all the time that the city will do anything to ram this project through. How can the mayor keep changing the rules to suit a special interest group that is run by her campaign backers and then, with a straight face tell the public there is no conflict of interest? There is not one piece of the proposal that has suited the neighborhood so they are having to change every aspect of the neighborhood to fit the project. I hope that Sheri Green’s arogance catches up with her long before the next election when we can toss her to the curb where she belongs!!!!
Green initially pretended there was no conflict and openly voted at first and second reading. In the third reading, after being challenged in an interview with Meisner, she suddenly realized that newspaper photographs proved Marshall Smith’s active involvement in her campaign and back peddled on the conflict issue, recusing herself on third reading. Now, with Marshall Smith out of sight (but never out of mind) she apparently states she is no longer in conflict.
My issue with Green’s rather transparent position is that, quite simply, ONCE A CONFLICT, ALWAYS A CONFLICT. In addition, for ethical people, the appearance of conflict is just as important as the actual conflict. She should recuse herself, period.
Runner46 Deanna Wasnik has been the “goto” lady since the community meeting at Vanway School. My guess many assumed she was the one to have contact with “our bad”. I believe we have clearly communicated reguarly with mayor and council, Deanna Wasnik, Ian Wells and all those who held the positions before them, but if you think we should be talking to “acting” Manager Kathleen Soltis…..shuffle shuffle…then it can’t hurt to try and get her on board to better help with the communication process.
What happened to campaign promise of more open communication to the people…..
People asking about the changes to the OCP which will affect all the neighborhoods of Prince George: Write a letter with your concerns to the city to all these email addresses:
mayorandcouncil@city.pg.bc.ca; dwasnik@city.pg.bc.ca; KSoltis@city.pg.bc.ca; IWells@city.pg.bc.ca; wbabicz@city.pg.bc.ca; sgreen@city.pg.bc.ca; feverittpg@gmail.com; Cameron@cameronstolz.ca; cityclerk@city.pg.bc.ca; mayor@city.pg.bc.ca;
feverittpg@gmail.com; garthfrizzell@citynotice.ca; councillorlhallpg@gmail.com; akoehler@telus.net; murry.krause@cinhs.org;
bskakun@telus.net; Cameron@CameronStolz.ca; councillordavewilbur@shaw.ca
Take action now is so correct–Marshall Smith… out of sight but not out of mind..heard through the UNBC grapevine that old marshall was sniffing around recently for research grants to support the cause…maybe he is closer than we think and this is just another smoke screen to throw tax payers off of the conflict—totally agree with once a conflict always a conflict and Green needs to get that…it appears that this project is still near and dear to her heart even if her campaign manager isn’t quite so near
Runner says “but there should be no expectation that you would learn something before i happens..”
I don’t think that is what is being said here. I think a heads up from the planners rescinding 2nd reading would have been more transparent than not saying anything at all. They have help the proponents and L&M in every way possible to get this proposal ready to be approved, again, by council. The least they can do is keep the public informed.
“marshall was sniffing around recently for research grants to support the cause”
So he managed to get a PhD now?
“dialogue be with the City Manager”
What City Manager? Everyone around City Hall is acting these days!!!!! The real people have left the hall.
To Gus: Would PhD in this case mean – Piled higher and Deeper?
PhD – Pardon Help Debt?
Rescinding and redoing second reading of the rezoning bylaw to allow for a Women’s Treatment Centre to go into the old Haldi Road School is set for Monday, Feb.18th.
As Mayor Green puts it: “This change is a housekeeping matter to ensure that the wording of Rezoning Bylaw No. 8475 and the OCP Amendment Bylaw No. 8383 aline in a way that provides greater clarity”. In effect, City is trying to plug a loophole so that they can, once the OCP amendment is passed, put a Community Care Facility, Therapeutic, wherever in the city they please. So even though this appears to be a Haldi area concern, it’s outcome can affect the whole city. Anyone concerned about their neighbourhood should attend the Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 18th to show (by appearance) their concerns for their neighborhoods in this matter.
Interesting enough I went on the BC assessment for the property… It was a school, a residence, an apartment and now for 2013 the owners have classified it as a “Rectory” Description: Rectory
Year Built: 1978
Even the year is wrong as it should be 1971….
Does this mean they are able to get their land taxes cheaper???
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