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EDITORIAL: Proposal needs complete conclusion

It would be a mistake to reject the Banks Crescent proposal without a public hearing
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For more than a year, Summerland’s municipal council has been examining a Banks Crescent development proposal for a 424-unit seniors housing facility.

Most of the necessary studies and reports have been completed, and once a third-party review of the proposed aquifer protection strategy is received, council will be able to go to a public hearing.

The reports and studies are needed in order to give council adequate information to make a wise decision.

The public hearing is equally important since it provides the public with a formal venue to voice their opinions and concerns about this project.

However, a resolution put forward at the last municipal council meeting called for council to reject the decision on the spot, without the aquifer report and without the public hearing. The motion was defeated and the project is still before council.

At this point, with the developer, council and the community watching this project for more than a year, it would be a mistake to reject it now, without the final report and without a public hearing.

Throughout the past year, council has asked for plenty of information in order to understand the effects this project could have.

This lengthy fact-finding stage is essential if members of council are to make an informed decision, either for or against the development proposal. Right now, before all information has been received, it is still too early for members of council to have made up their minds about this proposal.

And while members of the public have already voiced their opinions on the development proposal, through letters to the editor and through petition forms and comments at council meetings, the formal public hearing has not yet gone ahead.

There is a process in place for projects of this nature, and the process should be followed.

This development proposal deserves a resolution, not just an ending.