Newsrooms are accustomed to fielding complaints (and even the occasional compliment).
After we publish a news story or an opinion piece, it鈥檚 not uncommon to hear from both ends of the political/social spectrums that we are too biased toward the other side.
Once we examine our coverage and determine there was no real slant one way or the other, we are forced to conclude that we were in the middle 鈥� not right enough for the right wingers nor left enough for the left wingers.
Reaction to the finalized Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) has been along these lines.
People in the Comox Valley鈥檚 rural areas outside the incorporated municipalities of Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland are rightly concerned about a document that formalizes specific areas for future development.
The concern of rural residents follows a recent history of all three municipalities gobbling land just outside their borders.
An ongoing concern for people living just outside municipal boundaries is that they are excluded from voting in a referendum to decide whether a municipality will annex an adjacent area.
On the other side of the issue are those who believe that development is progress and who tend to favour it for the jobs (and larger tax base for municipalities) that it brings.
So, not everybody is celebrating the adoption of the B.C. government-mandated RGS that was negotiated by our various local political representatives.
Larry Jangula and Murray Presley, Comox Valley Regional District Courtenay directors, opposed third reading and final adoption. Presley feels the settlement node boundary identified at Mount Washington will hamper the ski hill's ability to expand and develop.
It鈥檚 safe to assume that residents of outlying areas are also not happy.
In an area like the Comox Valley where the population is growing, it makes sense to let everybody know what the groundrules are.
Maybe the RGS is right down the middle.
editor@comoxvalleyrecord.com
