Former Cllr. Marcus Reuter spoke at the October 7 council meeting, pointing out the CAO used the wrong bylaw when rewriting Lions Bay’s Regional Context Statement*.
He used the 2016 version (pg. 20) reflecting an Urban designation before the village became Rural in 2022.
“When I read the proposed new version I couldn’t believe our hard-won rural designation had been ignored, replaced with an urban agenda that doesn’t support who we are or Metro 2050 [the Regional Growth Strategy], which by law it must. It also does not support the wishes of residents.
“I then realized he’d used the wrong document,” said Reuter, “I couldn’t believe he got it so wrong” .
“He repeatedly assured council the changes were just modernizing the language and housekeeping, but they are far more than that. By then council had given it two readings, four votes to one, based on the wrong document. No one heard what Cllr. Abbott was trying to tell them. I had to speak out.”
Reuter also stressed changes now being proposed, supposedly to support Metro 2050 as required, were made in 2022 and no further staff time on the document was required.
He has subsequently heard that staff have acknowledged the error and the matter is being addressed.
The urban-rural question arose during the previous council term after public consultation over a proposed Metro wood burning bylaw. Over 300 respondents believed it was not appropriate for Lions Bay and the realities of village life. It was the highest reponse to a consultation in the village’s history.
When Metro refused Lions Bay’s requested exemption from the bylaw and indicated further bylaws intended only for urban areas could be coming, a conversation began as to whether Lions Bay was Urban or Rural. A well-publicized Have Your Say was conducted, 535 residents responded and 91% agreed, in terms of lifestyle and Metro definitions, the village was Rural.
“The wood burning bylaw was the canary in the mine shaft,” said then-councillor Norm Barmeier in a meeting at the time.
Lions Bay’s Regional Context Statement reflecting its Rural designation was approved by Metro on July 29, 2022.
* A Regional Context Statement (RCS) identifies the relationship between a municipality’s official community plan and the regional district’s growth strategy.
Reuter’s speech to council can be seen at the 43:47 mark in the council meeting video. He provided this transcript:
Good evening all, it’s a pleasure to be with you.
I see three members of the previous Council before me. It’s just like the old days!
And YOU will well remember the months of good work and robust public consultation
council and staff did just three years ago, in which over 500 residents took part, which led
to Metro Vancouver’s approval of our OCP amendment and rural designation – outside the
Urban Containment Boundary – AND our new Regional Context Statement that supports
Metro 2050.
For the record, over 90% of residents agreed we are rural in how we live and in keeping
with Metro’s own definitions.
Astonishingly, the RCS included in tonight’s agenda package ignores the 2022 version and
all the work put into it. Instead it has reverted to the 2016 version, and adds Metro 2050
references aimed at urban areas. It includes statements such as “there are no rural lands in
Lions Bay” and referring to the village as urban.
In other words, we’ve already updated our RCS to support Metro 2050 and it surely is a
puzzle why, with all the other unfinished business in the village, this RCS change is being
proposed now.
And this isn’t just “housekeeping”- there are changes in it that will significantly impact us
all – as resident Denis Welch, for example, recently discovered. As a reminder, a key goal of
Metro 2050 is to create compact urban areas inside the UCB and not outside of it.
You know, when I spoke at a Metro meeting in 2022 I observed that we had been ill-served
by poor decisions made in the past, and that our Council of the day was seeking to right
these historical wrongs.
You did it right: you listened to the community and you were well supported.
This RCS change, on the other hand, is unnecessary and will likely suck the wind out the
brief remainder of this Council term. We’ve already have an RCS that’s in line with Metro
2050 and Provincial Legislation AND is supported by residents.
I urge you to set this item aside and direct staff to focus on the many unfinished items that
remain.
Thank you.
