Yan Roberts, who has been one of the public faces and voices of a group of citizens concerned with actions at City Hall, says “there will definitely be a full house again.”
Roberts is referring to next Tuesday’s regular meeting of North Bay City Council. Councillor Mac Bain has announced he is replacing two motions pertaining to development and environmental legislation passed at the last meeting and followed by notices of reconsideration by Councillor Mark King.
See related story: Bain backtracks; No Mac attack on environment
Roberts says now is the time for “more open dialogue and really trying to encourage Council to take a step back, and pause, and perhaps have an educational session on the importance of wetlands and species at risk before voting on these new motions.”
On January 15, according to Roberts, North Bay City Council passed the two motions, asking the province to relax environmental restrictions on development, relating to the Endangered Species Act and Provincially Significant Wetlands. Besides environmental ramifications, many who spoke at the last meeting referenced that both motions were announced publicly just 24 hours prior to passing.
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“There is significant public objection which resulted in these motions being pulled. It’s really mobilized the community. People care deeply about this.”
Roberts on the contentious original motions:
MOTION REGARDING THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
The first motion was for the City of North Bay to ask the Province of Ontario to exclude all land, streams and lakes within the City of North Bay’s settlement area from the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.
MOTION REGARDING PROVINCIALLY SIGNIFICANT WETLANDS
The second motion was for the city of North Bay to ask the Province of Ontario to allow a municipality to use Provincially Significant Wetlands for development. This motion also passed, but now is also being pulled due to strong public objection. A replacement motion will be presented on January 30th and will seek to alter the Provincial Policy Statement.
