Tonight's "open house" at Straiton Hall regarding the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan/Study was very well attended, with estimates of close to 150 people, standing room only.

It also had good City representation. In attendance were Mayor Banman and the following Council members: Bill MacGregor (who chaired the meeting), Henry Braun, John Smith, Simon Gibson, Les Barkman, Dave Loewen, and Patricia Ross. Also in attendance were the following city staff: Frank Pizzuto, Rod Shead, Tanya Bettles, Mark Neill, Jim Gordon, Mark Taylor, and Jay Teichroeb.

Both of the local newspapers were there --- see articles here and here.

Most people in attendance seemed to appreciate the words of Bill MacGregor and Bruce Banman, both of whom acknowledged that the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan had gotten way ahead of itself, and it was wrong to not have included property owners earlier in the process. This theme was repeated throughout the meeting, and it probably diffused some of the tension. The result was a meeting which, although somewhat intense at times, was remarkably polite. From the City's perspective, they managed to fend off and mitigate what could have been a high level of hostility.

A couple of points really stood out. One of Bill MacGregor's comments --- he said the wildlife corridors that were specified in the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan are now gone. They've been scrapped. One of the attendees said "Can we get that in writing?" to which Bill responded that we can have it in writing at our next meeting at Straiton Hall on September 11th. Many of us are hoping that Bill's right, but at the same time we're wondering: How could the City spend months crafting the SMEMP, and now say it's been gutted? We'll have to wait and see.

Another thing Bill mentioned that people clearly liked was a commitment that all of our questions would be answered by staff, and if they couldn't be answered at tonight's meeting they'd be answered at the next meeting on September 11th, in writing.

Further to that, Mayor Banman said that he is a solid supporter of our property rights. Jay Teichroeb also said the same thing. Again, this is what we want to hear. But more importantly, the words need to be followed up with action on the City's part.

The meeting lasted from 6pm until 10pm. Everyone who wanted to speak was given a chance to --- nearly 25 people spoke. However, it was evident that many people didn't speak because they didn't know what to say --- How can they give the city feedback if they don't have access to the data upon which the City's plan/study is based?

Most of us showed up because we are very concerned about this "nature preserve" concept expressed in the SMEMP. But now the City has said "Whoa, false alarm, you can forget the SMEMP, we're renaming it a "study" and we're ditching all that stuff in the plan you didn't like, let's just start over again from scratch" --- all of which sounds great, but some of us are skeptical.

Some other highlights ---

Probably close to 30% of the time was spent talking about gravel pits --- which wasn't precisely the intent of the meeting, but that's what happened. All of us up here are affected by the gravel mines, mostly negatively. Not too much came out of the meeting on the gravel pit front, other than general displeasure was expressed. The point was made that, unless gravel mining is reigned in, all this talk about Sumas Mountain is a waste of time; the gravel trucks, blasting, and general noise is making life on Sumas Mountain unpleasant for a large number of property owners.

Surprisingly, the drainage fee issue had little mention.

We asked for the city to provide the following materials prior to the next open house meeting planned for September 11th:

*a high-res map of Sumas Mountain showing all of our individual parcels and how they are affected by the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan/Study (i.e. which of our private properties has the City decided are of "high environmental sensitivity?")

*a list of the 40 Species At Risk which the City claims are resident on Sumas Mountain, where they live on Sumas Mountain, what the term "species at risk" actually means, where the data came from, and what citations exist upon which this Species At Risk data is based

The City of Abbotsford has asked us for feedback regarding the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan/Study. But before we can give them any level of meaningful feedback, we need the data and maps which went into their SMEMP/SMEMS. We need to see this information before we can comment on it. A few low-res maps on easels are not adequate. We need the data. We need to see how it affects our individual parcels. And we'd like to receive it prior to the next Sumas Mountain "open house" being planned by the City.

We'd like to thank all Sumas Mountain property owners for attending tonight's meeting. But it was only "Round 1". The City has more meetings planned. This issue is going to go on for quite some time, well into Autumn by the looks of things. So please remember to mark you calendars --- September 11th at 6pm at Straiton Hall. Round 2.