~2- It was generally felt by the managers that the Transportation Planning increases were necessary and unavoidable. The increase in staff to facilitate their movement from Vancouver was not supported by the managers. It was not Known how much work they actually co for the region, mor was it believed necessary to simoly hire them without apparent need on the part of the region. The managers were uncertain about the Tourism Vancouver contract but noted that there will be a great deal of dissension among some municipalities if they are forced to perticipate througn a regional levy. The greater part of the discussion revolved around the Livable Region Program. Proponents of the $300,000 program (which the planners would Tike to see increased to $400,000) point out that it is necessary in their opinion, to gain public support through a very extensive public participation program. By gaining this public support and by having a better educated public, the hard development decisions that Councils will have to make will be made easier. I would recommend against the program for a number of reasons: 1. Council has had a presentation of the plan and are aware of what it includes and its main thrust. The entire plan is a series of "motherhood" statements. It is written in such general terms that there is nothing controversial or publicly unsupportable in the document. By the same token there is nothing specific that can be discussed in any meaningful fashion. The plan has no legal status - no municipality or person, or organization is bound to any of its statements. It is my opinion that it would be appropriate and important for City Councils to be informed about the plan and to be committed to it, but the plan is of little or no immediate relevance to the average citizen and because of that there will be no sense of involvement nor of commitment by the public at large. The information should certainly be made available to the public should anyone be interested in it, but it is not believed a worthwhile expenditure of funds to attempt an elaborate and expensive public information process about something which has no official status. One would be hard pressed, for example, to imagine that knowledge of the Livable Region Plan would have made any difference whatsoever on the controversial land use debate or decisions such as Spetifore, Terra Nova, or even the Surrey Remand Centre. Bringing the Livable Region Plan out to the public ‘through the media, public meetings, etc. is coming uncomfortably close to reinstituting regional planning. As Council will recall, this function was discontinued as a regional function several years ago through provincial legislation. OPTIONS N/A RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that Council consider the proposed budget and the foregoing comments and provide a resolution for the City's Board member to take to the GVRD Board meeting. The process is similar to that of the Fraser Valley Regional Library. i~ is recommenced further that the proposed Development Services budget not be approved and that the member levies not be increased except as required to meet the transportation planning demand. "OMS Gki H.W. Baldwin Chief Administrative Officer WHB/do (0265C)