On Aug.23, the Citizen carried an editorial signed by Managing Editor Neil Godbout, criticizing the Haldi Road residents and their stand on the now defunct Haldi Drug and Alcohol Recovery Centre proposal.
My issue is the unflattering way in which you describe the actions of Ms. Sevin in her court
challenge to the rezoning. You state in part: "...a group of neighborhood residents, led by
Janice Sevin, won its court case, convincing a Supreme Court judge to declare the city's
zoning amendment on the property invalid ...".
I take exception to the word "convincing" as in this case I take it to mean "manipulated."
Ms. Sevin, through lawyer Roy Stewart, simply pointed out the rezoning was inconsistent
with the Official Community Plan (OCP) - end of story.
I should remind you that this OCP deviation was pointed out to City Council on Oct. 3,
2011 at the third reading of the rezoning process by Mr. Stewart. Council and senior staff
dismissed those comments as being nitpicky and not relevant because the social objectives
set out in MyPG should trump the OCP.
Huh?
If you, Mr. Godbout, city council members, and senior staff had taken the time to read the
OCP, you too would have come to the wonderful conclusion that this proposed project was
clearly inconsistent with the OCP. Judge Turcott read our OCP as well as the Local
Government Act and agreed with Ms. Sevin and thereby rendered a judgment on that basis.
You take issue with not being able to conduct interviews with the principals.
What do you expect?
Will city council or city staff admit they did wrong, perhaps admitting to not reading or following the relevant sections of the OCP? Do you blame the proponents for not wanting to inflame this poorly developed proposal thereby infuriating more taxpaying residents?
Why would Ms. Sevin want to say more than what has been said in the judge's decision?
Lastly, I truly believe Ms. Sevin deserves an apology. She did what was right, she fought
city hall and won. Does she have the right to gloat? You bet! But you have no right to
criticize her or anyone in the community for taking a stand to right a wrong.
Tore Pettersen
Prince George
