Barbara Mellin鈥檚 Jan. 22 letter argues that referendums are the best way to determine voter support for recent emergency shelter and supportive housing proposals. As someone closely involved in successfully winning a referendum in 2016, I beg to differ.
The Alternative Approval Process (AAP) is extremely low-cost to administer and is completely appropriate for smaller projects or proposals. The referendum process, on the other hand, is as expensive as a general election (generally a minimum of $100,000 for most municipalities), and appropriate for extremely expensive projects or permanent changes to a municipality, such as boundary extensions.
In 2016, I helped lead opposition to a massive infrastructure project proposed by the City of Nanaimo - a publicly funded professional hockey arena - that would have led to a double-digit increase in property taxes. That project was, correctly, sent to referendum and was defeated in the most lopsided result in B.C. history. In that case, a referendum was appropriate.
In this case, the proposed property tax increase for the average homeowner is well under 1%, and the requisition for the two contentious bylaws 450 and 451 is (a relatively small by budget standards) $2M (with another $6M for the artificial turf field not leading to a tax increase due to a drawdown in reserves). An AAP is the appropriate vehicle for this.
If you want referendums about every little project you oppose, don鈥檛 complain when your property taxes go way up.
John Dacombe
Courtenay
