MAYOR AND COUNCIL
ALDERMAN BOB JACOBS

MINISTRY OF MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS:
"The Planning Act: A Discussion Paper"

WHEREAS :

In his preamble to the praposed Planning Act, Minister of
Municipal Affairs Bill Vander Zalin States;"It will reduce the
proliferation of provincial and local government land use authorities
with overlapping procedures and regulation." In one sense he is
right as his planning proposals are centerist in nature. The
Minister of Municipal Affairs desires to withdraw the power of
Planning from local government into his own hands in Victorias,
thus establishing himself as a kind of 'super-mayor' for British
‘Columbia. On the other hand, the Minister's statement is wrong.
There is ‘in his proposal a new overlap of procedures, namely, the
creation of an urban regional committee to establish an urban
regional plan which may transcend municipal and regional boundaries
and further, the toothless, land use appeal boards which may
review the complaints of aggrieved developers but have no authority
to alter decisions other than refer the complaint back to Council

for. re~consideration,

Therefore, the Minister's claim that the proposed Act, "will
provide for a formal appeal mechanism to deal with faulty or

improperly considered land use decisions" is false.

The proposed Planning Act hits at the very essence of local
government ~ it attempts to emasculate it. In his preamble, the
Minister says, “The Act has been prepared by the staff of the

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and myself". Quite true, as the Act

*