Summary of the December 1st, 2008 City Council Meeting and Recent Events:
21/12/08 22:36 Filed in: Updates
Thank you to all the
ROLO members who came to City Council on December
1. We had a sea of people in red with ROLO
stickers on; about 100-150 of our people were in the
gallery. Our ROLO rep gave a great speech which
will be posted shortly on our rolodogs.org website
under the “documents” tab.
The ROLO presentation highlighted the history of Chief Whitecap Park as well as explaining how ROLO was created and how we eventually received Standing on the Master Plan Steering Committee. It brought home the fact that ROLO’s vision plan and inputs at the Steering Committee meetings were left out of the minutes, and that proposed day camps and NO DOG areas were never discussed by stakeholders at general committee meeting, but surprisingly ended up in Stantec’s “Preliminary Concept Plan”. This left us with 25 % of the park as NO DOG and 97 acres earmarked for development, as well as the elimination of the south parking lot on Grasswood Road.
As a response, Council asked ROLO to trust that their City administrators will follow the Master Plan process. They also told us that they have not read the Concept Plan proposal, which was submitted by Stantec so they didn’t want to react until the process was complete. City councillors believe that over the next few months, the committee will re-convene and work towards achieving a consensus. If that is not an achievable goal, then a number of Options may be developed, followed by an Open House for the public, followed by a meeting with Council who would then vote on the best option. We were also told that Council would not support any development, such as www.nkmipdesert.com, which was cited on page 8-54 of the Stantec Report, as ‘a good example’ of what the Whitecap Dakota band would like to see in the park.
Thank you to all members who wrote letters to Council and to all who came to the Council meeting. ROLO also appreciated the many petitions that we received which we handed in to Council. There are more steps to take as we participate in the City’s “Process”, and we will keep you informed as events unfold.
As a result of your letters and our presentation to Council, the Committee Chair has called a meeting of the Master Plan Steering Committee for Jan. 2009 to work at reaching a “compromise in the design that will allow the process to continue…. The Committee will discuss alternatives that all committee members can agree to” All members of the committee are encouraged to “think of ways we can change the design so we can reach a compromise”.
Lastly, we are sorry to say that our chair, Lina Hack, has resigned. We appreciate her efforts and hard work over the past two years to help get ROLO started and growing. Kim Stratemeyer, an original member of the ROLO Steering Committee, has volunteered to take on the role of interim Chair. The Steering Committee is a group of volunteers and we welcome any member who would like to join us. Please call Michele at 343-6559 if you are interested in playing a more active role in ROLO.
Please do not park in front of the gates – this is a good “turn-around” area for cars, and it also leaves the space open in case emergency vehicles need to get in to the park.
Please continue to pick up your dog’s poop. It is especially important to clean up – council members, MVA and other interested parties may visit the park over the next little while and it is important to show visitors that we look after our Park. Enjoy the trails in 2009!
Yours sincerely,
The ROLO Steering Committee
The ROLO presentation highlighted the history of Chief Whitecap Park as well as explaining how ROLO was created and how we eventually received Standing on the Master Plan Steering Committee. It brought home the fact that ROLO’s vision plan and inputs at the Steering Committee meetings were left out of the minutes, and that proposed day camps and NO DOG areas were never discussed by stakeholders at general committee meeting, but surprisingly ended up in Stantec’s “Preliminary Concept Plan”. This left us with 25 % of the park as NO DOG and 97 acres earmarked for development, as well as the elimination of the south parking lot on Grasswood Road.
As a response, Council asked ROLO to trust that their City administrators will follow the Master Plan process. They also told us that they have not read the Concept Plan proposal, which was submitted by Stantec so they didn’t want to react until the process was complete. City councillors believe that over the next few months, the committee will re-convene and work towards achieving a consensus. If that is not an achievable goal, then a number of Options may be developed, followed by an Open House for the public, followed by a meeting with Council who would then vote on the best option. We were also told that Council would not support any development, such as www.nkmipdesert.com, which was cited on page 8-54 of the Stantec Report, as ‘a good example’ of what the Whitecap Dakota band would like to see in the park.
Thank you to all members who wrote letters to Council and to all who came to the Council meeting. ROLO also appreciated the many petitions that we received which we handed in to Council. There are more steps to take as we participate in the City’s “Process”, and we will keep you informed as events unfold.
As a result of your letters and our presentation to Council, the Committee Chair has called a meeting of the Master Plan Steering Committee for Jan. 2009 to work at reaching a “compromise in the design that will allow the process to continue…. The Committee will discuss alternatives that all committee members can agree to” All members of the committee are encouraged to “think of ways we can change the design so we can reach a compromise”.
Lastly, we are sorry to say that our chair, Lina Hack, has resigned. We appreciate her efforts and hard work over the past two years to help get ROLO started and growing. Kim Stratemeyer, an original member of the ROLO Steering Committee, has volunteered to take on the role of interim Chair. The Steering Committee is a group of volunteers and we welcome any member who would like to join us. Please call Michele at 343-6559 if you are interested in playing a more active role in ROLO.
Please do not park in front of the gates – this is a good “turn-around” area for cars, and it also leaves the space open in case emergency vehicles need to get in to the park.
Please continue to pick up your dog’s poop. It is especially important to clean up – council members, MVA and other interested parties may visit the park over the next little while and it is important to show visitors that we look after our Park. Enjoy the trails in 2009!
Yours sincerely,
The ROLO Steering Committee