KBCA elections postponed to next month.
The Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association celebrates John Mlacak’s birthday during its annual general meeting on Feb. 27. Mlacak is the former reeve of March township and mayor of the former city of Kanata.
Jessica Cunha/Metroland
More than 20 Beaverbrook residents braved the snowy conditions on Wednesday, Feb. 27, to attend a community association meeting, but the head count wasn’t high enough to elect a new executive.
The Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association hosted its annual general meeting the night the city was walloped with 14 centimetres of snow but fell short of the 50 attendees needed to move forward with the elections.
Those currently in office will continue to hold their position until a new date for the election is set. Attendees voted to suspend the meeting until the following month when a proper quorum is available to vote.
APPEAL
Current president Gary Sealey and resident John Mlacak, former reeve of March township and mayor of the former city of Kanata, met with the Morley-Hoppner group on Feb. 28.
The developer owns the land at 2 The Parkway, which received approval from the planning committee and city council to build a seven-storey building on the site of the former post office.
The discussion was a “get-to-know-you” meeting, said Sealey, about “how we can co-operate on creating something good and beautiful.”
The association filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board to fight the city’s decision to rezone for a seven-storey building at 2 The Parkwa before the AGM because the deadline to submit passed a week before the Wednesday meeting.
Sealey said the association expects to lose if they go forward with the OMB appeal but the final decision of whether to continue the fight or not is up to the association as a whole.
“If we go to the OMB we are going to lose,” said Sealey.
Even knowing it’s a lost cause, Sealey said they appealed the city’s decision because “In the minds of some it’s the right thing to do.”
But with the elections postponed, so too is the decision on whether to continue to fight the city’s decision to rezone. There is a chance new board members might not want to spend the time and money at the OMB.
Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson cautioned those at the Feb. 27 gathering against continuing the appeal.
“The OMB cannot do what the community wants,” she said. “Going to the OMB now, you’re on your own” she added, saying the developer and the city agree on what has been put forward.
The seven-story building falls within the guidelines of the city’s Official Plan, which is currently in the process of being updated.
The average cost of the appeal process at the OMB is between $30,000 to $40,000 said Wilkinson, and could reach upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A few residents in attendance said they weren’t keen on going forward with the appeal.