The Blue Mountains CAO wants to establish a community pre-consultation process for development proposals in order to detect and negate nimbyism early-on.
“One of my goals as the CAO for 2021 was to be able to identify nimbyism early and allow us to move forward with projects and just get it out there that there is no legitimate problem with this, you may just not want it in your backyard,” said Shawn Everitt, CAO of the Town of The Blue Mountains (TBM) during a recently held committee of the whole meeting.
NIMBY stands for "not in my backyard" and is used to describe an attitude or mindset in opposition to a development or project because it is nearby, not necessarily based on the merit of the development.
The community pre-consultation would encourage developers to share preliminary designs with council members and the public in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the concept while identifying wants and concerns.
The process would aim to gauge public opinions early-on in the process before time and funds are devoted to planning applications and related site studies.
“It's extremely important for everybody to realize that this would not have the benefits of background studies, engineering designs, and final site specifications,” Everitt said.
He added that town staff are currently examining pre-consultation processes that have been used in past partnerships with members of the development community to create a community pre-consultation standard.
“We are really starting to get that process moving forward, where we're starting to see that pre-engagement, which I think is extremely important,” Everitt added.
TBM council members supported the development of a community pre-consultation process durning the June 1 committee of the whole meeting.
