What do we citizens stand to lose, if Justice Goepels ruling is left unchallenged?
If this decision is allowed to stand then only property developers will be given further opportunity through the Board of Variance to challenge the Director of Planning’s decisions (if for example, they feel that their development plans were unfairly compromised in some way by his decisions). It will be a closed process consisting of the input of the following parties: the Director of Planning (appointed by City Council), the Planning Department (City employees), the Board of Variance (also appointed by City Council), and property owners/developers. There will be no opportunity for members of the community at large to participate in this process – period. Moreover there will be no elected or appointed officials charged with the specific duty of ensuring that private interests are balanced with public interests in regards to development.
