Following denied AAP, Nanaimo council abandons borrowing bylaw

Legislation requires that if the city wants to abandon this current bylaw to reintroduce a similar one in the future, they would need to wait a minimum of six months before doing so. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7 fm

Nanaimo City Council will not immediately go to referendum and is now reevaluating options following the failed attempt to borrow money for its Public Works Yard project via an alternative approval process, also known as an AAP.

According to the City of Nanaimo, 8,655 valid response forms in opposition were received by the deadline–681 votes over the minimum required to stop the borrowing. Results were announced almost a full month after the deadline for submission. 

Under the Local Government Act municipalities that want to take out substantial long-term loans are required to either seek the consent of the voters through a referendum or AAP. 

Options for what the city should do next were presented to council on Monday, December 2. 

A staff report to council highlighted two options council could go with: either proceed with a referendum to seek elector approval for the borrowing under the Public Works Yard upgrades borrowing bylaw or abandon the bylaw and have staff report back with alternative ways to complete the project.

Legislation requires that if the city wants to abandon this current bylaw to reintroduce a similar one in the future, they would need to wait a minimum of six months before doing so.

Mayor Leonard Krog said the results of the AAP were “obviously disappointing.”

“It's the necessity for this project, and it's in the public interest to have it proceed,” Krog said. “But at the same time, I think staff's recommendation is the sensible approach in the circumstances.”

Councillor Paul Manly said while it is unfortunate that the AAP did not pass and that many people do not like the AAP, in every other province in Canada, municipalities don’t need electoral approval for long-term borrowing.

“So it's great that you have an opportunity here to have a democratic voice, and the people have spoken about this,” Manly said. “But this is a necessary project, and this Public Works Yard is well overdue for being rebuilt.”

He said the space could crumble in an earthquake, leading to problems with emergency responses in the aftermath of one.

The city is the fourth part of an emergency response, so you have fire, ambulance, police and the city,” he said. “If we have an earthquake in this community, heaven help the folks that live downhill from a broken sewer main or water main. If the city is busy digging out their own workers, how are they going to respond?”

Manly said the project is necessary and looks forward to seeing what other options could be done to update the aging Public Works Yard.

Councillor Ian Thorpe agreed with councillor Manly saying he was also disappointed in the results of the AAP but was not surprised. He said he agrees the project is a very necessary one he believes it needs to be started as soon as possible 

“So for that reason, my initial reaction to this report was to favour the option of immediately going to a referendum,” Thorpe said. “We have heard from the percentage of people who didn't like the process, which I understand, but I would like to hear from what I am convinced would be a majority of people who are in favour of the project.”

However, he mentions the disadvantages of the timeline of going to a referendum. According to the Local Government Act, if the City were to choose to go to a referendum it must be considered no more than 80 days after the deadline for receiving elector responses unless government approval for an extension is obtained. 

As the deadline for receiving electoral responses was October 31, this would put the deadline of the 80-day window on January 19 of the next year. This Thorpe said is too tight of a window to work in.

“And we're looking at the Christmas holiday season. We're looking at staff that are already facing extra burdens with the budget talks that we're undergoing right now,” he said. “So that being the case, I'm convinced to go along with the recommendation to abandon this bylaw, and hopefully, in six months time, pick up the torch again and hopefully the electorate at that time will be happy, I think, or satisfied to support it.”

Council voted unanimously to abandon the bylaw and have staff report back at a later date with alternative ways to update the Public Works Yard.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.