Abbotsford council has delayed first and second reading of a bylaw related to the McKee Neighbourhood Plan to allow staff time to review comments made at a prior public hearing and in written form.
The matter came before council at its afternoon executive committee meeting on Monday (March 27) following the revelation on Thursday (March 23) that a procedural error had been made during first and second reading on Jan. 30.
The error was not discovered until after a five-hour public hearing was held on March 6.
A public hearing occurs after first and second reading is passed, but the error means that the entire process will have to be repeated in the future.
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At Monday’s meeting, Mayor Ross Siemens said, dispute the error, all the feedback received from the public remains on record.
Council passed a motion that staff consider the feedback received and determine if the neighbourhood plan requires any updates or changes before council again considers first and second reading.
Once that is done, a second public hearing can be scheduled.
Comments made at the public hearing on March 6 and in correspondence sent to the city addressed concerns such as wildlife protection, trail preservation and the need to prioritize First Nations consultation and cultural preservation.
A staff report to council indicated that the procedural error related to a series of resolutions that was listed in the agenda packages for both the afternoon and evening meetings on Jan. 30 in relation to the McKee Neighbourhood Plan.
Council voted on those resolutions at the afternoon executive committee session, and a differently worded set of resolutions was to be included in the agenda package for the regular council meeting in the evening.
RELATED: Agenda error results in nullifying 5-hour public hearing in Abbotsford
But the staff report indicates that the resolutions from the earlier meeting were inadvertently duplicated in the evening agenda package.
The neighbourhood plan, if approved, will be used by council in making decisions about a 1,900-acres area (769 hectares) of McKee Peak on Sumas Mountain in terms of allowable uses, building forms and densities.
Council was initially supposed to take its final vote at Monday’s meeting on whether to adopt the bylaw that would see the Official Community Plan amended to include the McKee Neighbourhood Plan.
vikki.hopes@abbynews.com
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