The meeting held this past Tuesday on April 26th at Straiton Hall was well attended by Sumas Mountain property owners --- approximately 120 people came, representing close to half the mountain. Straiton Hall was full. The meeting was held to address the problems with the city's draft OCP.

Although SMRPOA informed City Hall about the meeting, for some reason they only saw fit to send one person: George Murray, the city manager. The staff who drafted the OCP were not there, nor was their advisory planning commission, nor were any of our elected representatives.

People were courteous to Mr. Murray, but they were also insistent: "Why hasn't the city kept its promises to us?"

(The Four Commitments made to us by City Hall back in 2012 were: First, that the SMEMP was dead; Second, that the old FVRD OCP for Sumas Mountain would become the new OCP for the mountain "with a few minor tweaks"; Third, that we as property owners on Sumas Mountain would be involved in the development of the new OCP; and Fourth, that we the property owners on Sumas Mountain would get to decide the future plan for the mountain, rather than having it imposed on us by city hall).

Mr. Murray couldn't answer why these promises were disregarded except to say that he himself never made these commitments, and they were made before he became city manager.

When one of Sumas Mountain's landowners asked "Who was responsible for writing this draft OCP?" Mr. Murray said that his staff wrote it. "But why were the promises not forwarded to staff?" to which Mr. Murray responded: "I don't know what they promised... when I look at the language of the Area H OCP and the draft they're not far off."

He kept making the suggestion that the new draft OCP is very similar to the old FVRD OCP. This seemed especially confusing, since the two OCP's have very substantial differences. Why else would half the mountain turn up at Straiton Hall.

His statement of "I don't know what they promised" was troubling, because it means our elected officials haven't been adequately directing Mr. Murray. The city manager and his staff are supposed to work for the mayor and council, who in turn are supposed to work for us.

Staff, he said, drafted the document by listening to the community and working with an advisory planning commission. People asked "Who consulted the people who live up here?" and "Were the residents of Sumas Mountain consulted?"

What became evident was the only changes Mr. Murray seemed willing to make were meaningless ones. "Can you change the font size?" Yes! "Can you make the maps right side up?" No problem!

Several landowners recounted personal experiences of how they'd been pushed beyond their breaking point by city hall staffers who didn't seemed to care about the human and financial burdens they were causing with their rules, regulations, and restrictions. And when it became clear that the Four Commitments made to us back in 2012 were not going to be honored by Mr. Murray, one landowner stood up and, expressing her frustration, asked him "How do you personally feel about the 4 promises?" to which he responded "I don't have personal feelings."

The tone of the meeting was frustration with city hall and deep distrust. Some comments people made:

• "I always feel like we're being constantly blindsided by city hall"
• "They promised that they would do things and they disregarded those promises"
• "What can we do to make sure the promises that were made to us are kept?"

By disregarding its own promises to Sumas Mountain property owners, City Hall now has a mess on its hands. Our elected officials will have to make a decision: Will they do the honorable thing and keep their Four Commitments to us? Or will they do the dishonorable thing by going back on their word?