If certain members of West Vancouver council speak to zoning amendments in an area where they own property, could that input be out of bounds?
On the agenda for Monday’s (Sept. 11) council meeting was a first reading of zoning bylaw amendments for the Ambleside local area plan, a set of highly anticipated documents that would substantively update the district’s most central neighbourhood.
But at the top of the meeting, council voted to withdraw that item from the evening’s discussion so that legal advice can be sought to determine if Mayor Mark Sager and Coun. Christine Cassidy – who both own property within the bounds of the plan – have a conflict of interest.
“As many of you may or may not know there are two members of our current council that may or may not potentially be in conflict,” said Coun. Scott Snider. “In order to do appropriate and due diligence to ensure that they can be either involved in the process or have confirmed that it would be inappropriate for them to be involved, they would like to seek further legal opinion to determine whether or not that would be a conflict.”
At issue is a commercial property owned by Sager at the corner of 15th Street and Marine, and a property owned by Cassidy on the 2000 block of Fulton Avenue.
When the plan was presented to council in July, resident and former West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce president Maggie Pappas said the conflict could threaten the project’s progress, but could easily be corrected by following the provincial Community Charter.
At that meeting, Pappas made the point that if either Sager or Cassidy were to sell their re-zoned property, the profit would be substantially larger than today. “Ignoring the appearance of potential impropriety increases resentment and pushback in the community,” she said.
According to B.C.’s Community Charter, locally elected officials with a financial interest in a matter that will be discussed or voted on at municipal council must declare those interests and not participate in discussion, vote or exercise influence on the matter.
No date has yet been set for the issue to come back to council.
