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County to hold public hearing to remove suggestion of bias

A new public hearing will be held on a controversial Red Deer County subdivision application after the developer complained of possible bias.

A new public hearing will be held on a controversial Red Deer County subdivision application after the developer complained of possible bias.

At issue, is a resident-organized meeting that Mayor Jim Wood and Coun. Christine Moore attended briefly on Jan. 31 about a proposed 39-lot subdivision for the area.

A formal public hearing before county council took place on Feb. 2 and council voted 4-2 against going to second reading on a bylaw to adopt an area structure plan for the Poplar Pointe Estates development planned for a site about five km west of Red Deer.

More than two dozen residents, mostly from nearby subdivisions, spoke out against the project at the meeting at Red Deer County’s offices.

Following the vote, developer Reg Whyte raised concerns that the mayor and councillor may have heard information at the informal public gathering that could have influenced their later decisions. Both had voted against second reading.

County manager Curtis Herzberg said the complaint was raised with the municipality’s lawyers who recommended holding another public hearing to remove any suggestion of bias.

Neither Wood nor Moore will participate in the new hearing.

The county does not believe the mayor and councillor were influenced in any way by their minutes-long attendance before the Poplar Ridge meeting. However, the alternative to another public hearing would have been to take the issue before a judge, which could mean costly and lengthy legal preparation.

Since the decision was made by council, the developer could not appeal to the subdivision and development appeal board. Only a legal appeal— which must be focused on process, not the merits of an application — is available.

Wood said on Wednesday he was well aware that as elected officials due to vote on the area structure plan, he and Moore could not discuss the matter with residents or the proponent.

He and Moore agreed to appear before the residents’ meeting only to inform them of the county’s procedures related to development applications.

“We were there five to 10 minutes at the most,” he said of the meeting at Poplar Ridge Hall attended by a few dozen people.

“We didn’t take any information in and to be honest I don’t feel biased in any respect.”

But the perception of bias is what matters in law and, in hindsight, they should not have attended, even on such a limited basis, he acknowledged.

“My nature is to try to help people. That was my purpose for going to the meeting,” he said.

“I always try to be cautious and err on the side of caution. Maybe I’m being extremely cautious about stepping back,” he said.

“But I really, truly care about the county and I don’t want to create any perception that we didn’t hold a fair hearing.”

Wood said it’s unfortunate that residents and the developer will have to revisit the public hearing but it is the best way to leave no doubt the county is committed to an open and transparent process.

Herzberg said if a similar situation arose in the future a staff member would be sent to explain county development procedures to the public.

The new hearing will be held in council chambers at 1:30 p.m. on May 10.

The developer could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.