PETERS: Did council take middle ground or refuse to make a decision on Upper Sahali proposal?

Every single incumbent on Kamloops council is running to return to the horseshoe and they want as few voters as possible to head to the polls with a lingering sense of anger or distrust.

For many, that ship has sailed, but we digress.

A developer in Upper Sahali wants council to endorse a proposal to remove land from the Agricultural Land Reserve to build housing.

At the end of a marathon public hearing this week, council elected to send the proposal forward – but did not offer an endorsement.

Through one lens, this is taking the middle ground. It neither expresses support for the application nor does it express opposition by simply refusing to forward the application.

Through another lens, though, it’s taking no position whatsoever and passing the buck.

That’s a tough look for a council that just sat through more than four hours of community opinions – most of them arguing against the development plan.

In 2020, a shift in provincial policy put more onus on local governments to endorse ALR exclusion applications in order for developments like these to move ahead.

In this case, forwarding the application without a council endorsement makes it highly unlikely the commission gives it the ‘thumbs up’.

Even so, council could have definitively shut it down.

Alternatively, council could have sided with Nancy Bepple, who argued the city needs the housing far more than it needs this particular green space.

We all head to the polls in about six weeks and I’m sure some around the council table were hoping to avoid prompting any block of voters from carrying their disapproval into the polling stations.

Even so, this council term hasn’t ended yet and councillors have a responsibility to show leadership all the way through to the end.

Part of good leadership is making tough decisions. Kamloops council could have done a better job of that this week.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by James Peters

PETERS: Did council take middle ground or refuse to make a decision on Upper Sahali proposal?

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