Official Plan meeting shut down due to high number of vocal residents

By Fred Groves

Essex County residents will have to wait a bit longer to give their input on the county’s new Official Plan.

Last Wednesday night in Essex, an overcapacity and clearly upset crowd forced Warden Hilda MacDonald to adjourn the meeting and it is suspected that a larger venue will be required.

“We (county council) are here to hear what you have to say,” began Mcdonald.

However, despite her attempt to bring order to the meeting, and with signs reading, “No 15-minute cities,” the public’s hostility forced the warden not only to recess the Official Plan portion of the night but cancel the regular council session.

With the council chambers filled, dozens more were in the lobby and with the door open were quite vocal that they could not hear what was being said.

“You either sit orderly and with respect or we will recess this meeting,” MacDonald told those in attendance.

Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy motioned that the meeting be halted and that a larger venue be sought out.

“We’re not scared to face the public,” said Bondy. Although he agreed that a larger place to hold the meeting might be in order, Amherstburg Mayor

Michael Prue felt the meeting should have continued. Wednesday’s meeting allowed three people to speak in regards to the Official Plan and MacDonald also said that if time permitted others in attendance would have a chance to address council.

“I wanted to continue and hear these three people. They deserve to be heard and then go to a bigger venue,” said Prue.

The Official Plan has several goals including providing a broad range of housing choices within Essex County, employment and leisure opportunities for growth and a close look at the county’s aging population.

“The purpose of the Essex County Official Plan is to establish a policy framework for managing growth, protecting resources and providing direction on land use decisions during the planning period up to 2031,” notes the 114-page plan.

“This is the first time the public can comment on the Official Plan. It’s not the last,” said MacDonald.

Security guards and members of the Ontario Provincial Police were at the meeting, but it was to no avail as the county’s Official Plan is now on hold.

In the document it states that, ‘the official plan is based on a set of assumptions, forecasts, values and objectives which relate to future conditions.”

“This has nothing to do with 15-minute cities,” said MacDonald.

The concept of 15-minute cities, which the public outcry seemed to be entirely about, is a concept in which residents can access shopping and entertainment within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

They have been billed as a modestly self-sufficient enclave, green-friendly transportation alternative to urban sprawl.