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Second, regional board members are fully accountable for their decisions.
They are appointed annually to their regional positions by their councils and
they must face the electors directly every two years in order to stay in
office. Regional board members are certainly more accountable for their
intermunicipal planning decisions than a _ provincial minister whose
constituency may not even be in the metropolitan area and whose ministerial
portfolio is assigned or removed only at the pleasure of his party leader in
the legistature. .

In addition to the accountability provided by the local ballot box, citizens
have a wide range of other ways to influence intermunicipal planning
decisions. Board and committee meetings are open to the public, and public
hearings are normally held to atr any contentious issues. The staff are
located within the region and are available to provide information and
assistance. Documents and files are readily and openly available’ for
inspection by any interested party. Al? these forms of access - often much
more important and effective than the ability to vote against some one - are
already available under the present regional district structure.

Third, regional districts have a proven track’ record of _ resolving
intermunicipal planning issues harmoniously. As a result of the updating of
the Official Regional Plan for the Lower Mainland, the number of amendment
applications has dropped significantly. This indicates that a number of the
contentious issues of the past ten years such das agricultural tand
designations and floodplain delineation have been resolved and can be
reinforced through local official plans. This achievement will permit
intermunicipal planning to focus on the issues which will dominate the next”
ten to twenty years, such as the need for conservative use of urban and
industrial land and the need to implement comprehensive solutions to the
transportation problem.

Recommendation 4: INTERMUNICIPAL PLANNING IN METROPOLITAN ECONOMIC
AREAS SHOULD. BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT,
CARRIED OUT BY REGIONAL DISTRICT BOARDS.

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Experience has proven that intermunicipal planning works best if the
decision-making body is advised by a technical group in which all affected
municipalities and agencies are represented. This helps to ensure that both
jocal and regional perspectives are given an adequate and rigorous technical
evaluation before the regional board considers an issue.

‘The participation of representatives of provincial ministries and agenci?s on
such bodies would be even more helpful than in the past, because it would
supply a link between the proposed expanded provincial planning effort
and the local government responsibility for intermunicipal planning in
metropolitan areas. .

Recommendation 5: THE REGIONAL BOARDS SHOULD BE ADVISED ON
INTERMUNICIPAL PLANNING BY A. TECHNICAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE MADE UP OF STAFF REPRESENTATIVES FROM EACH
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND FROM APPROPRIATE PROVINCIAL MINISTRIES

AND AGENCIES.

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