The City is now in step 4 of the process, seeking approval from members of the municipality, undertaking an unusual avenue, known as the Alternative Approval Process.
The city will go ahead with step 5, Provincial Approval, unless at least 10 per cent of residents submit an Elector Response Form, indicating to the city that it must hold a referendum to obtain approval for the proposed extension.
Elector Response Forms are available at City Hall during the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. or on the city’s website.
Completed forms can be faxed to 250 787 8181, emailed to [email protected] or delivered directly to City Hall.
The deadline for Elector Response Forms is August 21, no later than 4:30 p.m.
The City of Fort St. John says the rational for the proposed boundary extension is to manage and accommodate growth requirements that cannot be met by vacant lands within the city’s existing boundaries, and to protect the strategic interests of the city with respect to future growth and development.
Mayor Lori Ackerman says that both Dr. Stanley Hamilton, who facilitated a taxation review for the city in 2009, and the Site C Joint Review have indicated the need for the city’s boundaries to be addressed.
“This extension will increase opportunities for not only residential development but commercial and retail as well,” Ackerman said. “We live in a supply/demand economy, so to not move forward with this, is to say to our residents that they should suffer the consequences of the increase in demand that we are facing with anticipated resource development.”
The city will be out of available industrial and residential land within the next few years if growth continues as anticipated.
A Boundary Extension Open House will be held on July 23, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Quality Inn Northern Grand.
This meeting is open to the public and will serve as a forum for discussion, with an opportunity to ask members of council questions about the application.
The city has successfully obtained 2 boundary extensions in the past 25 years, once in 1989 to include the South Sewer Lagoons and CommunityForest, and again in 2001 for the inclusion of the OSB Plant.
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