The Blue Mountains council has delayed a decision on the establishment of a new allocation policy for water and sewage services.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 27, council chose to not make a decision on the recommended new allocation policy and instead deferred the matter until later in September to allow more consultation between town staff and the development industry.
The allocation policy would set standards and criteria for how the town hands out allocations for water and sewage services to developments that are nearing completion. It would include criteria to use to evaluate developments seeking to connect to town services.
With capacity in the town’s water and sewage systems declining as more developments connect, the town has been facing the need to establish a clear policy for allocations beyond the current “first come, first served” method it currently uses. Already in Thornbury, some developments are on hold as capacity is not available.
The proposed policy attracted significant public interest. Kory Chisolm of the Georgian Triangle Development Institute made a presentation to council expressing concerns about the proposed policy and asked for implementation to be delayed until the town had more consultation with developers.
“There are still significant unanswered questions about what is being proposed,” said Chisolm.
Planner Colin Travis and Great Gulf Vice President Ken Hale also spoke to council about the issue.
Initially, members of council were supportive of the proposed policy and praised town staff for their work over the past 10 months to develop the document.
“I believe this is a great policy,” said Coun. Paula Hope.
However, when it came time to make a decision on the staff report, council chose to delay the matter until after the next cycle of committee of the whole meetings in September. The intent of the delay is to allow more consultation between the development community and town staff on the proposed policy.
A resolution to approve the staff report on the policy was moved by Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon and seconded by Mayor Andrea Matrosovs. However, the mayor indicated that it was her intent to ask for the resolution to be deferred until September.
The request for a deferral set off some procedural confusion and more discussion, which took longer than the discussion on the new policy itself.
Ultimately, council voted to defeat, in a 5-1 vote, the initial resolution. Coun. Shawn McKinlay was absent. Council then passed a second resolution pushing off the decision until September.
Bordignon was the lone member of council to vote in favour of moving ahead with the implementation of the bylaw.
Bordignon noted that a day earlier council had passed a resolution declaring a housing crisis, but was now delaying the allocation policy, which had provisions within it to give favourable ratings to developments proposing affordable/attainable or rental housing.
“If we’re going to practice what we preach,” said Bordignon. “I’m ready to move ahead on this so we can actually get going.”
