Delta mayor Lois Jackson accused of muzzling candidates on Southlands

For Richard Kunz, it’s the “most egregious” action ever taken by Delta mayor Lois Jackson.

He is an organizer with Southlands the Facts, a community group that wants to protect an iconic tract of agricultural land, the former Spetifore farm, from being torn up by developers.

Kunz was reacting to Jackson’s recent pronouncement that she is seeking a legal opinion on what councillors and candidates for council in this fall’s civic election can and cannot say about a new proposal to develop Delta’s Southlands.

“It is just unbelievable that she would even contemplate…muzzling public opinion,” Kunz bristled in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight on September 21. “And to think that voters should not have the right to know the position of any candidate for council or mayor is ridiculous! How are voters supposed to make an educated, informed decision and vote accordingly?”

The 217-hectare land parcel in the Tsawwassen area has long been a hotbed of contention. It was removed by the province from the Agricultural Land Reserve in 1981. Tsawwassen Development Ltd. submitted a proposal in 1988 to develop the land, and this became the subject of the longest public hearing in the country’s history.

In 2009, developer and landowner Century Industries Ltd. put forward an application to amend Delta’s official community plan and zone the property for various uses. It wanted to build 1,900 houses on about a third of the land. Century also offered about 81 hectares to the Corporation of Delta for community-based
agriculture, including an urban farming education centre. According to its proposal, the remaining portions of the land would be used for public amenities like parks and trails.

This summer, Century indicated that it is scaling down its proposal to 950 housing units.

For Kunz, Jackson’s move is actually quite late. Referring to statements made by Delta councillors at a meeting on September 12, Kunz said: “It was very evident that the council members, most if not all, expressed opinions that were clearly in favour of development. So what’s that old saying about closing the barn after the horse has escaped?”

Jackson, who is running again for another term, vigorously defended her action.

“My understanding is if you go into a public hearing with your mind already made up and you publicly declared, you could be in jeopardy of not being able to vote on the issue,” Jackson told the Straight in a phone interview. “You could be in court with either the developer who had said he’s not had a fair opportunity to present because everybody has already made up their mind, or from the public who say everybody made up their minds already on behalf of the developer so we didn’t have a fair hearing.”

Jackson stressed that the legal opinion should serve as a guide for municipal politicians.

“If the lawyer says we would strongly suggest you do not make a firm opinion publicly on this issue, then, I mean, you do that at your own peril,” she said. “If…the municipality was sued by either the people or by the developer, those people in turn, those councillors that were seated, may not be defended at the public purse. In other words, they’re on their own hook. The corporation would not indemnify them.”

Coun. Heather King is challenging Jackson for the post of mayor but she doesn’t completely disagree with the incumbent on this matter.

“What she’s trying to say is that when we go forward with a public hearing, if we go into a public hearing with our minds already made up, then that creates an image that is not fair governance, and I have to agree,” King told the Straight by phone. “However, we can certainly be free to speak our minds on what we have gathered in terms of concerns or information.”

Sylvia Bishop, a candidate for council, wants Jackson to withdraw her request for a legal opinion. In a statement, Bishop declared: “The idea that a candidate for elected office should not take a position on such an important issue contradicts some of the most basic principles of our democracy.”