BY AARON WALKER
White Rock

Editor,

There is a petition that is going in front of Council on the Tuesday, Nov. 29, and I want to get the word out about it. The petition is asking the Council to make sure that it is getting community feedback on the Chapter 18 nuisance code “final draft” before deciding on it and before deciding the fate of the Community Development Advisory Board.

The “final draft” that is up for the public to view doesn’t incorporate all the recommendations of CDAB. This leaves a large chunk of the nuisance code up in the air. How is the public supposed to understand what is going to be voted on if there is no true final document? How is any community member supposed to be able to formulate any sort of public comment when we don’t even know what the nuisance code is going to look like by the time Council goes to vote on it?

Council also gets to make their changes. What changes are they going to make? Are they going to ignore some of the input that CDAB and members of the public have provided? Are weeds going to creep back in? Shouldn’t members of the public have an opportunity to comment on this and understand it BEFORE a vote on it is taken?

This is what the petition is about. Slow down, get a TRUE “final draft” in place incorporating CDAB’s recommendations (or not depending on what Council decides), incorporate Council’s changes, get substantive public feedback on the actual document to be voted on, and then vote on it. Transparency, honesty, and open governing. Give the community a chance to understand what is going to be voted on. Right now, nobody knows and that is completely unacceptable, especially for a change of this magnitude. 

Rushing to get this document approved will get nothing beneficial done in the end. If this nuisance code gets approved and CDAB gets changed to a task force before any of the consequences of the new code are known, we will end up with a code people are unhappy with (AGAIN). Taking the time to make sure it is done in a manner that the people want, and need should be the goal.

We’re not asking for the nuisance code to get thrown out, we’re asking for the Council to take their time, get a final document together, get feedback on it, and THEN take a vote on it. Be open, upfront, and transparent about it. There are ZERO drawbacks to doing this, and the people are better served when this approach is taken. 

If you support this approach, please feel free to leave a comment below, or e-mail me at adwalker.usn@gmail.com and I will read the names of supporters during the presentation. Thank you.