Metro Vancouver’s board is expected this morning (April 8) to seek binding arbitration to make its controversial regional growth strategy (RGS) the official plan for the region.
Regional Economic and Skills Development Minister Ida Chong will then decide whether binding arbitration is warranted.
Opponents of the plan, such as MetroVanWatch.ca coordinator Randy Helten, say board members should first support non-binding mediation as a way to resolve differences with Coquitlam’s council.
Both Coquitlam and Port Moody failed to approve the plan by the March 22 deadline. The remaining 18 Metro Vancouver municipal governments plus three other “affected local governments” passed the plan.
“We take the view of the Coquitlam council, that there should be some non-binding discussion,” Helten said. “Then if they can’t reach a conclusion then it will be decided from above and imposed on them.”
He believes Port Moody’s concerns have already been dealt with. Coquitlam’s beefs include:
- how transfers of land-use will be made;
- lack of details regarding the legal, administrative and financial costs for Metro Vancouver and member municipalities if the RGS is implemented; and
- the way some land is zoned.
For example, it wants Westwood Plateau Golf Course, riparian areas and several local parks to be changed from “general urban” to “conservation recreation” zone.
Supporters say Metro Vancouver’s RGS will do a better job of protecting industrial land and jobs than does the current Livable Region Strategic Plan (LRSP). (See “Municipalities wrestle with regional plan” – issue 1116; March 15-21.)