The Jumbo Valley is newly-threatened by a resolution that will come before the RDEK this Friday, August 7, 2009. In essence, the resolution will ask the RDEK board members to vote to send the Jumbo Glacier Resort land-use decision back to the Province.
This would cut out further local public consultation and effectively erase the voices of East Kootenay people in any future decision-making processes.
We cannot allow this to happen!
If the directors vote to support the resolution, the RDEK would then ask the Province to make Jumbo into a ‘mountain resort municipality.’ This would mean that the RDEK would not need to host public hearings in regard to Jumbo Glacier Resort. Public hearings are a legal requirement of any land use rezoning.
But sound democratic process for land-use decision making gives all affected persons the opportunity to be heard at a public hearing. The resolution threatens this directly.
We need to protect it.
We, not the Province, should decide the fate of the Jumbo Valley.
Let your RDEK Director know that you want to keep the Jumbo decision local!
If you're unable to attend Friday's meeting, please call your Regional District of East Kootenay Director. The contact numbers are listed below.
Please tell him or her that:
- you expect him or her to keep this decision at the RDEK level;
- you don’t want the decision handed off to the Province, for any reason; and
- you want him or her to protect the institution of citizen-based democracy, no matter how challenging the decision is.
Focus your comments on the lack of democratic process this resolution would result in, rather than your feelings about Jumbo Glacier Resort itself.
A phone call is worth much more than an e-mail, but if you can't call, please send an e-mail to all of the directors.
Electoral Area A: Mike Sosnowski -- 250-423-1029 Email
Electoral Area B: Heath Slee -- 250-887-3483 (Home)
Electoral Area C: Rob Gay -- 250-489-4242 (Home) Email
Electoral Area E: Norman Walter -- 250-427-2577 (Home) Email
Electoral Area F: Wendy Booth -- 250-345-6155 (Home) Email
Electoral Area G: Gerry Wilkie -- 250-347-9841 (Home) Email
Village of Canal Flats: Ute Juras -- 250-349-5672 (Home) Email
City of Cranbrook: Scott Manjak -- 250-489-4339 (Office) Email
Liz Schatschneider -- 250-489-3334 (Office) Email
City of Kimberley: Jim Ogilvie -- 250-427-2623 (Home) Email
City of Fernie: Cindy Corrigan -- 250-423-2233 Email
District of Sparwood: David Wilks -- 250-425-0264 (Home) Email
District of Elkford: Dean McKerracher -- 250-865-2303 (Home) Email
District of Invermere: Gerry Taft -- 250-342-9281 Email
Village of Radium Hot Springs: Dee Conklin -- 250-341-5100 Email
