Wellington North Mayor Mike Broomhead is surprised at how few people have picked up copies of Wellington North’s development charges bylaw proposal prior to a public meeting next week.
At first, Broomhead said only 14 copies were sought at the township office. That was later updated to 20.
However, Broomhead said, some of that 20 were individuals who picked up more than one copy.
The low number “kinda surprises me,” Broomhead said.
He said the township did advertise and said the information is also online at www.wellington-north.com/documents/2009_Dev_Charge_Study.pdf
“The press has done a good job reporting on the process,” the mayor said.
He believes it important to encourage residents to attend the meeting. “I think there is still a lot of misunderstanding.”
One of those misunderstanding, is how development charges are created and what they are spent on. “If nothing else, we know the general feeling of people who are coming.”
What Broomhead has found from the majority of those he has spoken with, is that there is a misunderstanding of how development charges are applied. “It’s important to get as many people out as possible,” he said.There are various scenarios in the proposal, but council may choose to go with something completely different.
“We need to have something for people to be able to discuss.” He said he wants to be able to provide the opportunity for people to ask questions. “We’ll stay till 3am if necessary to answer everybody’s questions,” Broomhead said. The public meeting will be in regard to the entire study.
“Anyone can ask any question they want,” Broomhead said. But, he said, the reason for the meeting is to address the agricultural component.
