It's been a long journey, marked by controversy with other municipal units, resignations by senior planning staff (who played a key role in consultations and the drafting of the original document), deep dissatisfaction voiced by the Kings County Federation of Agriculture after a sneak preview of a new draft's contents, and a letter of concern from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Delays are often frustrating. And the 2050 work aimed at replacing the current MPS/LUB with a regional planning document has been several years in the making.
However, "a thing worth doing is worth doing well". From my perspective the current documents provide stronger protection of our agricultural land and economy that the draft currently before us so I'm happy to see it remain until a council can put stronger, not weaker, legislation in place. Slowing the process will allow the public to be able to : "read, discuss, and communicate with council our opinions on their contents," to quote Allan Melvin, President of the Kings County Federation of Agriculture.
The proposed timeline has just been released. And motions aimed at having discussions behind closed doors between staff and council have been amended to include the full participation of the public.
The latest draft maps are coming in a week or two (early June) and a final reading by the next sitting group of councillors is slated for February 2017. Meanwhile, you can have your say at various times in the proposed schedule. It's important that you do.
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