City council members did as expected Monday night and rescinded rezoning bylaws that would have paved the way for a new B.C. Transit yard at 18th Avenue and Foothills Boulevard.
The move was made in response to the significant public backlash against the proposal as expressed during information meetings and consultations prior to taking the bylaws to a formal public hearing.
Concerns raised, as itemized in a report to council from Mayor Lyn Hall, included the potential for loss of greenspace and impacts on wildlife in the area, noise and air pollution and the impact on the stability of Cranbrook Hill's slope.
Whether the yard is more appropriate for an industrial area was also raised in Hall's report and concurrent with rescinding the bylaws, council also voted to ask staff to work with B.C. Transit on finding another location.
On Monday, Hall said he used his authority to expedite a process that would have taken an additional two weeks if the usual step of tabling a notice of motion was used.
Prior to voting unanimously in favour, council members went through a round of comments beginning with councillors Garth Frizzell, Susan Scott and Brian Skakun, the three councillors who approached Hall about cutting the proposal short.
Frizzell said the proposal appeared to have "crossed the Ts and dotted the Is" subject to going through a process that some councils in other communities have foregone so they could deal with all four readings of the related bylaws at once.
"But there's value in a slow and methodical process," Frizzell said.
"No one around this table has the hubris to believe we have all the knowledge."
In listening and learning, Frizzell said it became clear that "it wasn't just an empty lot next to a substation, that there's more than economic value, that there's social value to that piece of property."
Scott said she regarded passing the bylaws through first and second reading as a way to get more information on the project and subsequently heard loud and clear the public's opinion on the matter.
"The emails, petitions, phone calls, visits, conversations in the grocery store, parking lots and I actually remember one in the drive-through, and other places demonstrates the passion people have for preserving certain spaces in our city," Scott said.
Skakun said it simply became apparent there was no point taking the issue to a full-blown public hearing.
"It would certainly have went on for easily a couple nights," Skakun said. "It would've created a lot of stress on not only the people opposing it but on staff and council. And I thought if we could just basically kill this project and start fresh and perhaps a better location, that's the thing to do."
Coun. Jillian Merrick noted she was the lone council member to vote against passing the proposal through first and second reading. Yet Merrick said she also received calls from people angry at her, even though she opposed the idea from the outset.
"I still feel that rezoning is not the only issue with this project, there is so much information missing on this and I feel we were rushed into it," Merrick said.
"Part of it is our responsibility but part of it is our partner's responsibility. We've not been given a fair chance as a partner (to see) what this facility really means to our community.
"And I think that if we're thinking we're saving the community and our staff a whole lot of strife, I think we're ignoring the strife that's already happened."
Coun. Murry Krause said the vote should not be regarded as a negative reflection on the work of city staff and added he had misgivings about the proposal despite voting in favour of first and second readings.
"I guess it's really (about) how hard many of us have worked over the long years to create the trail system, to protect it in terms of its access to wilderness and greenspace, and that was concerning," Krause said.
The votes drew applause from the gallery, which was about half full of residents who opposed the location as originally proposed.
