*NOTE that this is Part 3 of a Ramara MZO blog post series. Click here to read Part 1 or Part 2.
On January 16th, Ramara Township Council voted in favour of the proposed Willison Sideroad MZO.
In favour:
Basil Clarke
Jennifer Fisher
Sherri Bell
Gary Hetherington
Against:
Keith Bell
Dana Tuju
David Snutch
Rama first nation’s letter
Rama First Nation, despite false claims of support, released a powerful letter to Mayor Basil Clarke opposing the MZO and pointing to the lack of meaningful consultation with them:
JOINT LETTER
A joint letter from
A joint letter opposing the MZO from Green Orillia, Stop Sprawl Orillia, Orillia Wetland Watchers, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, Just Recovery Simcoe, two Orillia City Councillors, and a Severn Township Councillor was sent to Ramara Township Council on January 15th. Read the letter here.
Suppression of Community Voices
Without reasonable notice, Ramara Township removed an essential format for community engagement.
In the last Council meeting on January 16th, Mayor Basil Clarke stated that the public could depute as a form of engagement at the January 30th meeting (timestamp 1:28:48). Formal requests to depute were accepted and deputees have been preparing for their confirmed deputations during the past week.
Then this week, without evidence of a formal council vote regarding a change, deputees were notified that the process for engagement had been drastically altered. Deputations have been cancelled, and a 10 minute dialogue format has been reduced to a 1 minute speech. Furthermore, all letters attached to the agenda under section 1.2 were removed and are no longer reasonably accessible to the public (including Rama First Nation’s letter).
Why are so many community voices being suppressed?
So what now?
There is still time to make your voice heard! Ramara Council makes their final ratifying vote on Monday, January 30th.
No matter what City/township you live in, email Ramara Council and tell them you strongly oppose the MZO:
Mayor: Basil Clarke: bclarke@ramara.ca
Deputy Mayor: Keith Bell: kbell@ramara.ca
Ward 1 Councillor: David Snutch: dsnutch@ramara.ca
Ward 2 Councillor: Jennifer Fisher jfisher@ramara.ca
Ward 3 Councillor: Dana Tuju: dtuju@ramara.ca
Ward 4 Councillor: Gary Hetherington: ghetherington@ramara.ca
Ward 5 Councillor: Sherri Bell: sbell@ramara.ca
cc: council@ramara.ca
And/or pre-register to speak at the Open Forum (virtually or in person): https://bit.ly/3Xy1hA8
*UPDATE AS OF JANUARY 30TH: Ramara Council voted in favour of the MZO again, and it was ratified. Watch the meeting here (starts at 1:43:52).
I am against MZO. There should be more research and planning when deciding to develop on wetlands which should be protected and we the public should be privy to that information and should have input before the developers start dig. Who ends up benefitting the most from this?? I am tired of politicians making unilateral decisions that shortcut the environment and the people living there.
I am against MZO. There should be more research and planning when deciding to develop on wetlands which should be protected and we the public should be privy to that information and should have input before the developers start dig. Who ends up benefitting the most from this?? I am tired of politicians making unilateral decisions that shortcut the environment and the people living there.
This needs further information available