Environmental Issues that Council doesn’t want to hear about
All chose not to reapply to sit on the Committee
All who served as citizen members of the Town’s Environment and Sustainable
Development Advisory Committee for the past two years chose not to reapply
to sit on the committee for 2008/2009.
Our input on land use has been firmly discouraged by Council
Each of us cares deeply about the issues that should be addressed by such a body.
However, over the past year, our input on matters of land use and redevelopment has been firmly discouraged.
Indeed the mandate of the 2008/2009 committee has been limited to exclude discussion of the environmental impacts of redevelopment plans and projects unless Council requests it.
Environmental Issues that the Council doesn’t want to be discussed
The Committee was to have no stated opinion, raise no questions on the proposed sale of a park, the paving of part of a park, the resurfacing of playing fields with an environmentally questionable material, a major redevelopment project for the center of town, the creation of more and more parking spaces with its ever increasing accommodation of cars.
And what about the significant loss of private green space and trees as houses become massive and gardens are reduced or replaced by pools and pavement? All this reconstruction makes the summer we look forward to unbearably noisy and dusty in some sectors of town, has impacts on land values and adds to rather than reduces the town’s environmental footprint.
An advisory committee that cannot advise?
The importance of a properly functioning advisory committee on sustainable development cannot be overstated. Canadians are now putting the environment at the top of the public policy agenda, just where it belongs. Debate and discussion are key to making sound decisions on redevelopment where it’s needed.
Obviously, Council has been elected to decide on all these matters, but if it appoints advisory committees does it not expect and hope to hear advice from those whom it appoints?
Once the “Model City”
This town, designed as it was with transportation at its center, with parks, gardens and trees, and with facilities and services within walking distance for most residents, still has the potential to be a model 21st Century community.
Will that be its future? Not unless land use policies are developed with an emphasis on environmental protection and sustainability
Marie Castonguay, Jean-Marc Seguin, Joelle Pelletier et Judy Bock, members of the Town’s Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Committee
Steven Guilbeault - Chronique environnement
Richard Cléroux - Le fouineur politique
