After hiatus due to COVID-19, Vaughan plans 2 public hearings this June

Yorkregion.com
June 8, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

After a hiatus due to COVID-19, the City of Vaughan is calling for input at two upcoming public hearings scheduled on June 23 and 25.

“Public consultation remains an important part of the planning and city-building process,” the city said in a statement on June 2.

It added, “Vaughan council is committed to ensuring a fulsome and transparent public consultation process while safeguarding the health and well-being of all staff and citizens until in-person meetings are permitted.”

Public consultations were cancelled after Vaughan and Ontario declared states of emergency on March 17 to flatten the curve on the pandemic.

After cancelling the April 7 meeting, Vaughan said the scheduled public hearings would not proceed on May 20, but would resume in June. This came after some Vaughan citizens, including Elvira Caria, the chair of the Vellore Woods Ratepayers Association, requested to freeze some key applications that require thorough input from deputations.

However, for the upcoming meetings, Caria said she was called to see whether her ratepayer group “would be OK with the items that did move forward since they are not deemed controversial.”

“They clarified exactly what it was that we requested, and if we would have issues with particular items that didn’t require community input or (weren’t) deemed controversial,” Caria said. “We understand that the City of Vaughan needs to be (moving) forward. We don’t want the city to be at a halt.”

When asked to define what she considered controversial, Caria replied: anything that’s a “big ask from a developer,” such as official amendment changes, “different from what it has already been approved.”

On May 20, Vaughan councillors heard from delegations, mainly developers, requesting votes be cast on whether to convert parcels of employment land into residential and mixed use -- a process was that dubbed “overwhelming.”

The first hour of the meeting, however, was laden with technical glitches.

“Here lies one of the most important arguments ... the technical aspect of the way we conduct public hearings during this period,” Caria said.

In early May, Caria called to delay public hearings on key issues, since some residents, especially seniors, might not be technologically attuned.

In addition to the May 20 meeting, Caria tuned into two other committee of the whole meetings digitally, where she also witnessed technical difficulties marring discussions.

“Imagine if 50 people that want to speak on one item; it is impossible. As much as we appreciate technology, there are issues.”

However, Caria, who represents 3,000 to 5,000 Vaughan residents, said she is “satisfied” with the city’s consultations on the agreed items to be discussed at the upcoming June public hearings.

She also said there is no need to be “rash,” especially for the City of Vaughan, which is constantly changing.

“Timing should not be part of a problem when it comes to planning,” she said. “It’s about get it (done) right and not fast.”