What a night!

Well, the council chambers were definitely full Tuesday night for the Public Meeting on the "disposal" of "surplus land" in Victoria Glen Park. (Although we were reminded that they weren't required to have a public meeting at all, but were doing it out of -- the goodness of their hearts?)

Fourteen people had registered as "delegations" to talk and another half dozen came up and talked after these comments.

Seems like the council noticed the "passion" in the room -- at the end of the meeting the chair, Councillor Ruby Weber, commented that they had expected mostly emotional pleas and were surprised at the new information and facts that were presented and would take those in consideration when making a decision. I think they can count on this group holding them to that!

The presentations ranged from a description of the 60 different species of birds that live in the woods -- including fairly rare ones like warblers and hawk owls -- to a detailed, technical powerpoint presentation of the dangers to the stream below the proposed development (prepared with input from two Elmira residents who also happen to be hydrologists teaching at Laurier and at UW) to a description of the history of the park (Victoria Glen Park, also known by locals as Reservoir Park) to an amazing video of photographs of Riverside School students doing a nature lesson in the park.

There were speakers across the spectrum of ages -- senior citizens and middle-aged and parents with children at their sides and Gen X's and high school students.

Both Elmira papers were there, of course, but so was the CKCO reporter and camera. (I put a link to the right to the news item on the CKCO evening news last night)

On a personal note -- I was so very proud of my neighbours and the other Elmira residents who filled the council chambers and who made presentations. So many people there that I knew and so many that I didn't.

Canadians are know for their reserve and respect for rules -- there wasn't even any audible grumbling when people were told at the beginning that their comments were limited to 5 minutes, when as recently as 3 pm, we were told each delegation had 10 minutes and most people had timed their material to fit that limit. However, three times the chair had to firmly remind the group that applause was not allowed during council meetings. After that she gave up -- the group repeatedly greeted strong presentations with spontaneous (and noisy) approval.

This isn't the end of the story. Whatever Township staff recommends in October, Elmira residents will definitely be paying attention and will be there to make sure the right thing is done.