Impressions During the Last PAC Meeting - April 8th, by Lutz E. Becker

To start with some general comments, the meeting was disorganized and at least partly a farce due to the fact that without a microphone some people could not really understand and grasp what was said and some could not read (due to distance from the screen and size of letters/messages) what was presented on the big screen.

It felt very right to me that Mr. Doug Lutz set the tone of the meeting at the beginning. It helped to make it entirely different from the past one at the Al Whittle Theatre.

To spend thereafter all this time on the "Vision for Wolfville" I regarded as wasting time with the intention to avoid and or shorten the discussions on the really relevant issues of the MPS draft. Nobody in the Western hemisphere will argue about these ideal principles which look good on paper and on the screen and are probably copied from somewhere else. As I said during the meeting, these same principles will work for any community and the word "Wolfville" could be easily replaced by any other community name. What was missing was the connection and relevance to the unique situation of the Town of Wolfville and the actions to be taken to get - over time - a step or two forward towards the realization of these idealistic principles. I think it is a gimmick to propose doing it just by "increasing density".

The then discussions on sustainability seemed to be based on the hallucinations that sustainability would and could be achieved in this Town within its borders and its given limits by just following the outlined idealistic principles of sustainability. The Declaration of Sustainability (Section 2.2 of the MPS draft) states ".sustainable development requires a constant and equitable balance of environmental, social, cultural and economic factors in all decision making ... to provide the highest possible quality of life for all its residents". This again reads very well on paper but seems to stem from sweet dreams of some Committee members. And nowhere in the draft can I find any additional reference to the equity and balance of environmental, social, cultural and economic factors in all decision making.

Could it be that the authors of this MPS draft wanted to win a price in literature and/or poetry?

To me sustainability of the Town of Wolfville is directly related to its biggest employer, the Acadia University. Should the student population for whatever reason decline even further and - hypothetically - the University would have to close its doors; the Town of Wolfville would degrade to a sleepy little village with no importance at all.

There are no sections in the MPS draft showing this direct dependence and the actions to be taken to avoid any possible "disaster".

It reminded me on the dreamy vision of Mr. Greg Morrison, Director Planning, who presented during his opening speech at the Al Whittle Theatre a population growth over time up to about 14,500 inhabitants in Wolfville. Apart from the missing equity and balance factors as above, he did not explain where he envisions and/or how he dreams up the jobs for the increasing population. For him to believe that these new people will reside here and commute to Halifax or elsewhere to earn their bread and butter, he better keeps as a matter of faith or religion rather than reality.

Most of the discussions and arguments circled around the proposed abolishment of the R-1 Zones. There was a strong opposition in the audience (about 340 signatures against) and some very good ideas were presented to the Committee and its chairman, Mr, Robert Wrye. I hope and wish, the Committee had listened carefully.

When the point of Development Agreements was covered shortly, Mr. Wrye exclaimed in its context: "Trust me!" Most of the people in the audience laughed. To me this was a clear indication that there is a very low level of trust in this Administration in relation to Development Agreements. Some even quoted very specific incidents.

When Mr. Wrye was asked how many R-1-property owners he had consulted regarding the proposed R-1 changes, his answer was "zero". His response initiated additional laughter. He as well was unable to come up with a correct number on how many properties are in the R-1 zone of Wolfville.

One of his other statements that he has served the Town of Wolfville with decisive input for the past 25 years may look good on his resume but is only indicating to me that it is overdue time for a replacement in exchange for new ideas. In this context I like all the advantages of the American system, where key-people can serve only two terms max.

Before the motion, to keep the R-1 zone as it currently is, was brought to the table some Committee members were given the opportunity to present their opinions.

Among them, Mr. Glyn Bissix then described his personal situation stating that he lives in a big house he might not be able to hold-on to, especially after retirement in about 5 years, unless the change of the zoning from R-1 to R-1-A would take place. There seems to be a huge conflict of interest and Mr. Bissix seems to have a mental block if unable to see this conflicting situation. His personal problem has no relevance to all the residents of Wolfville and should have no impact on his Committee input and decisions as well. He would be well advised to learn about the Nova Scotia Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. The question then came to my mind, how many other members on the Committee will favor personally from the planned and drafted changes of the MPS? Later on, the motion, to keep the R-1 zone as it is, was denied due to the fact that Mr. Bissix voted openly against it. What a farce! I had expected that an honorable Mr. Bissix would have stayed at least neutral.

As I understand it, the members of the Planning Advisory Committee will finally provide the Council of the Town with an amended MPS draft for the decision process. I have a major problem to see Councilmen of the Town sitting in and acting as members of the Planning Advisory Committee as well. Personally, I don't trust people, who pretend to be able to change their hats and maybe opinions depending on what meeting and/or decision-making process they are on. This is not my understanding of a fair role-play.

Furthermore, I was disappointed with the presence of our mayor and member of the Committee, Mr. Robert Stead. He was sitting there all evening, saying nothing, expressing no opinion even once. He could have taken the stage and calmed the folks down as a kind of mediator. He is paid for his main duty to try to do the best in his ability for all the residents of the Town. Instead of seeing him on TV with a proclamation of an almost unenforceable By-law, which then becomes Provincial law a little later, I would have liked to see him addressing the audience. The fact that he didn't might be that no TV cameras were present.

Doesn't he understand: It is election year!

Lutz E. Becker