Employment Area Review Troubles Continue

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The troubles for Council around Vision and Policy continue:

Last night Council OVERTURNED the Planning and Development Committee of Council’s recommendation to ”terminate the Employment Area Policy Review Study (EARP) and direct the conformity issues respecting employment area planning policies under the Planning Act, PPS and Growth Plan to the Official Plan Review and Update Project”.    This week, Council voted 6 to 3 to REJECT the well thought out recommendation thereby keeping alive a process that many on Council admitted was ‘beyond their ken’.  It was Mr. Crown, Director of Planning himself, who recognized the confusion and lack of understanding of Councilors. Consistent with the direction and outcome of the previous meeting, Mr. Crown recommended Councilors vote to adopt the above recommendation to terminate the EAR rather than support a policy that was not well understood.

Midlandcommunity.ca agrees with Mr. Crown and believes the EARP should not be accepted as written (see our Blog posted March 20) and we applauded committee members and Mr. Crown for terminating the process at an earlier meeting.   We contend that the EARP as constituted was well intentioned.  However the likely outcomes of its implementation might be injurious to future economic development efforts in Midland.   The previous vote on April 6 supported Council terminating the EAR and took us a step closer to Council providing the Vision and the Planning Department helping that Vision become a reality.

Last nights vote undid all of that in what at first blush seemed a masterful act of comprehension of the subject at hand.  But, in the cold light of day it can only be seen as political maneuvering; blindly moving to conform to poorly understood Provincial guidelines and terminology.  Councilors voted to ignore deputations by Industrialist’s on the 24th of March about the negative impact of EAR on 300 to 400 potential new jobs with two of Midland’s largest employers!   Councilors File, Jeffery, Attwood, Charlebois, Pendlebury, and Ross, in voting to continue the Employment Area Review, effectively snubbed these businesses. Unfortunate and troubling to say the least!  Business inputs must be included in defining the outcomes if we are to be seen as truly open for business.

Stewart Strathearn for Midlandcommunity.ca

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