A letter was recently sent by Jay Teichroeb (one of the managers at city hall) to mountain residents advising us of two upcoming meetings at Straiton Hall regarding the city's plans for Sumas Mountain.

If you didn't receive it in the mail, here is a copy of it.

Here are just some brief notes regarding the letter --- but you really should read the letter in detail yourself.

The letter states that their plan for Sumas Mountain, which they call the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Study (this is the new name for the plan --- the old name was the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan), is in the "early phase" and the city is "looking for input from the residents".

The letter also includes several pages of Frequently Asked Questions about the plan.

Although much of the letter is couched in language that is hard to figure out, the city admits that the game plan is to change the Official Community Plan (OCP) for Sumas Mountain, using the Environmental Management Plan partly as a basis for it. The OCP is like a master-plan which affects everything on the mountain, including what people do with their property. It's important.

The city says it wants to develop a high level vision for Sumas Mountain, which will dictate future land use. That's really how the Environmental Management Plan (now "Study") is meant to be used. The plan is meant to take an inventory of the ecological and recreational "assets" on Sumas Mountain (whose assets?) and then use the information as a basis for the revised OCP.

What the letter does not include is any detail on what city staff has already done behind the scenes. For that, see here --- this is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation the city provided to the Area H Advisory Committee regarding the Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan (now Study) --- including maps. The maps are important, please print them off and review them.

According to the letter sent by Jay Teichroeb, the Environmental Management Area map has been presented to, and is supported by, the Community Sustainability Steering Committee (which consists of one city Councilor, Frank Pizzuto, and the four City general managers).

Although the city acknowledges it hasn't consulted Sumas Mountain rural property owners in the development of the plan, it has consulted or dialogued with:

Metro Vancouver
Abbotsford Mission Nature Club
Fraser Valley Conservancy
Bear Aware Network Fraser Valley
Kinder Morgan
Trails BC

...and a host of other departments, committees, and organizations.

The letter goes on to intimate that the city had inadvertently "put the cart before the horse" and now realizes it should have asked us before it developed the plan (which is probably why they've now renamed it a study). And that's why they'd like to meet with all of us on July 31st at 6:00 PM at Straiton Hall --- to get our input.

Please make plans to attend.