Tonight’s City Council meeting could be an interesting one as Councillors consider a letter from the Mayor on the proposed transit facility 18th and Foothills.
In a bit of an about-face, Mayor Hall has written to Council recommending the withdrawal of support for project. It also suggests City staff be directed to begin looking at an alternate site.
Councillor Jillian Merrick was the only member of council to vote against the project at its first and second reading.
“Hindsight is 20/20 but we still haven’t had a public hearing and so why they’ve changed their minds without any new information coming forward is, I guess, a question for them,” she says. “Before, we’ve gotten to a public hearing, many councillors have turned around and said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable moving forward.’ Ultimately, it would have been better to make those objections at the first and second reading. We’ve put the public. we put our staff, we put our partner – BC Transit – through heck in this process.”
Merrick says her objection to the proposal is rooted in the lack of clarity around its economics.
“My original objection to the project and my ongoing objection to the project is that there’s really been no business plan presented. There’s no concept in terms of how does facility will save us money, how it’s to operate, what it’s going to look like, how many buses will be LNG – it’s just a real mystery.”
She says residents seem to be concerned about a different aspect.
“I think the residents are fundamentally opposed to the land use piece. They wanted to see it remain as green space. Unfortunately, the restrictions of rezoning hearings means there’s not a lot of opportunity to question the business case because it’s not related to the land use. It was a really difficult legislative paste to navigate.”
Merrick says the tone around the project has changed after an information session last month drew many residents who voiced a lot of opposition.
Council still has to decide whether to support the Mayor’s recommendations.
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