The Foundation for Democratic Advancement, a non-profit “democracy watchdog” organization, hosted a forum in Springbank on March 8, to engage the public in a discussion about municipalities’ processes when dealing with proposed developments.
The event was a follow-up to the first Foundation for Democratic Advancement public forum held in April 2013 to discuss Rocky View County’s (RVC) processes during the approval of the Bingham Crossing development - a commercial and seniors housing project roughly 80 acres in size that will be located kitty corner to Calaway Park in Springbank.
“The event was a great success, about 80 people participated,” said Stephen Garvey, Foundation for Democratic Advancement founder and executive director.
Garvey explained that he conducted a 15-minute presentation on the idea of weighted voting, and how that system could have been applied to the Bingham Crossing development.
“Weighted voting is a system where different emphasis is placed on a vote, instead of a one-to-one weight,” he said.
“It could be more heavily weighted to reflect divisions that were closest or most affected by the development that would get more weight in their vote.”
Rocky View County (RVC) council approved amending the North Springbank Area Structure Plan and changing the land use bylaw to approve the Bingham Crossing development following two heated public hearings in 2012.
Later that year, two Springbank residents backed by the Springbank Community Planning Association (SCPA), filed two judicial reviews questioning Rocky View County council’s fairness of process during the public hearings and whether the notification area for the public hearings should have been expanded.
Both Court of Queen’s Bench judges presiding over the judicial reviews rendered their decision in 2013 in favour of the County, and court-awarded costs were ordered to be paid to the County and the developer by the SCPA.
“We picked Bingham Crossing because of the controversial nature of (the development) and we like to look in our backyard first. Bingham was consistent with out mission.”
Councillor for Division 2 Jerry Arshinoff was in attendance and participated in the open house.
“The purpose of the presentation wasn’t to discuss whether it was right or wrong, but to talk about the processes involved (with Bingham Crossing),” Arshinoff said.
Arshinoff explained in his presentation to those in attendance the process and importance of building an Area Structure Plan for development projects, and including the public input.
For more information on the Foundation for Democratic Advancement visit www.democracychange.org
