Community Planning Team for Brookswood-Fernridge a major test for Langley Township
It is most fitting that Langley Township is putting its public engagement strategy to its first test, with the establishment of a community planning team (CPT) for Brookswood-Fernridge. It was in Brookswood-Fernridge where the last Township council ran up against the wishes of the community, when it dealt with the deeply unpopular Griffith Neighbourhood Plan. Hearings on the plan were lengthy and the level of interest was very high. While council eventually rejected the plan by a 7-2 vote, its approach to public engagement was judged by many to be severely challenged. Three members of the last council were defeated in November, 2014 - the first councillors to lose their seats since 2002 – and this was at least partially due to the pro-development impression they left with residents. Only one of them, former councillor Grant Ward, had supported the plan at the final vote. The Brookswood-Fernridge debacle also gave rise to the very successful Unelection campaign which played a...