Well Done Council and Bravo Mr. Crown!

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Last night the Planning and Development Committee of Council voted 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”. If you think that is a mouthful, you are not alone.   All of Council and many in the audience struggled at the implications of three recommendations put forward by Town Planning Staff.    There was much debate amongst council and numerous attempts by the Director of Planning, Mr. Wes Crown, to clarify the concepts and consequences embedded in the EARP document.   In the end Mr. Crown recommended Council vote to adopt the above recommendation rather than support a policy that was not well understood.

Midlandcommunity.ca took the position that the EARP should not be accepted as written (see our Blog posted March 20) and we applaud Council and the Director of Planning for terminating the process.  We contend that the EARP as constituted was well intentioned.  However the likely outcomes of its implementation might negatively affect future economic development efforts in Midland.  It is our belief Council needs to develop it’s own vision of what this Town might look like and instruct Planning to create a planning structure/policy in line with achieving that Vision.

Mr. Crown showed exemplary leadership throughout the evening.  Not only did he advocate well for the adoption of the EARP that he and his staff had worked hard to craft, he demonstrated a degree of professionalism by aiding Council to a decision that could not have been what Mr. Crown had desired.  Bravo, well done!

Stewart Strathearn for Midlandcommunity.ca

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