Council Approves GRASP Amendments (Rocky View Weekly, July 4, 2017)
The last sentence of the above noted article states: “Lowther’s (i.e.- Councillor Eric Lowther) amendments to the plan were carried by a vote of 8-1, with opposition from Coun. Jerry Arshinoff”.
There were four amendments. I voted against the first two but in favour of the remaining two. The second amendment may have had an admirable intention but its wording was unclear and self-contradictory.
Nevertheless, the essence of the report is very true but I suggest it may have overlooked the essential point. Mr. Lowther’s first UPA (units per acre) amendment contained within it a rather sneaky little clause preventing a reopening of the public hearing or any input from the public at all when the amendment comes back to council on July 25.
Eric Lowther’s motion to prevent residents from speaking is the reason I voted against that amendment as I would vote against anything that told residents they are persona non grata in council decisions.
At the same June 27 council meeting, Mr. Lowther also voted to prevent residents from speaking on GRASP or Summit (gravel).
His motion to further exclude the public on July 25 marked the third time in just one day that he went out of his way to prohibit resident input or opinions. Even more shocking was the council majority agreed with him on all three occasions. In an effort to fool all the people all the time, Coun. Lowther then gave a lengthy prepared speech in which he labouriously proclaimed how he was representing Bearspaw people, yet in all three cases the great majority of the many people who were denied the right to speak were in fact from Bearspaw.
Any council motion, resolution, amendment, etc. that denies Rocky View residents the qualification to express their views is as unfathomable as it is deplorable.
Jerry Arshinoff , Councillor, Division 2 (Springbank)
