In this week’s print edition there are two stories about upcoming public hearings to discuss changes to bylaws related to some big topics, particularly involving the forthcoming legalization of cannabis and the planned Westgate Business Park and Greenfield Estates development, with the latter set for Aug. 2 and the former set for Aug. 20.
We actively encourage citizen engagement, particularly when municipal governments reach out for input, but we caution readers that in either of these cases these public hearings are to address very specific aspects of each issue.
Take the Aug. 2 public hearing on the area structure plan. What is being discussed is whether to go ahead with plans to have a shallower, larger catch basin, called a dry pond, instead of a deeper basin more commonly known as a wet pond.
And regardless of whether the plan makes it to three readings, there will still be a couple of new ponds to collect rainwater. The time to put a full stop to the development has passed and now it’s merely a question of how the development will proceed.
Later in the month a second public hearing on adding definitions and clauses to the land-use bylaw to account for legalized cannabis will be discussed.
It’s no secret that there is strong opposition to the idea of allowing marijuana production and sales in town, but we caution residents that this is not the forum to air those concerns.
This is a hearing to make semantic tweaks to the bureaucracy. No one is deciding whether to allow pot in town or not.
The province has given municipalities as much control over how cannabis is handled within their borders as legally possible and council has taken the appropriate “wait and see” approach to going above and beyond the basic requirements laid out by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.
With a 100-metre buffer zone around schools and health care facilities in place, it’s sensible to hold off until problems arise rather than guess.
If a resident has valid input on the wording of either of these two bylaws, by all means make your voice heard.
But understand that grandstanding at either of these public hearings is not going to stop either.
