CORNWALL, P.E.I. - A first-term town councillor in Cornwall is asking council to hold off a little longer on reviewing its official plan until the new council is up to speed following this fall’s municipal election.
Elaine Barnes raised the issue during Wednesday’s monthly meeting when she inquired about minutes from the town’s planning board, which noted the official plan was soon coming up for review.
Council’s last official plan review was also completed just a couple months after a new council was elected.
Barnes, who was elected to the council in 2014, said scheduling an official plan review when some people have been on council for only a couple months was too soon.
“After being sworn in, it’s a huge learning curve in every aspect of the town,” she said. “To be honest, when I look back four years… I was in no position to be reviewing an official plan after only being on council for two months.
“You need a little time in these seats to learn every aspect of the town before you’re asked to review such an important document.”
There appeared to be some mixed opinions on the matter, with Coun. Peter Meggs saying much of the legwork for the last review had been completed by the previous council.
“In the last year or two of the last council… there were a lot of meetings and weekends we were meeting. There were hours and hours spent on drafting and re-drafting and going through it piece by piece,” said Meggs, adding that reviewing the plan is a helpful learning process in itself. “Once you get to go through that whole process, as much as it is, you do learn an awful lot.”
Coun. Irene Dawson said one drawback is the town is legislated by the province on when the review must be done, and the last review should have been completed “long before” the last election but council had asked for an extension.
While Barnes said she was aware of the provincial requirement, she still had some concerns about the large scope of the official plan for new councillors.
Dawson said she appreciated Barnes’ concern about councillors “walking into that cold.”
Meggs suggested that as long as the review process was underway, the province would likely give some leeway on its completion.
“I can’t imagine, even in the year 2019, that the final draft is going to be completed.”
