The CON Oversight Society is calling on all eligible Nanaimo residents to sign the AAP Elector Response Form to oppose the City’s plan to sell over 1 acre of dedicated parkland—formerly known as Trofton Park—to Sandstone Development for $45,000. This land, part of Elaine Hamilton Park, is a vital wetland habitat supporting 117 species and should not be quietly handed over without public consent. The City is trying to bypass a referendum through an Alternative Approval Process (AAP), meaning this deal could proceed unless 10% of voters speak up by July 21, 2025. This decision belongs to taxpayers, not unelected bureaucrats. Submit your signed AAP form today to defend our parks, our wildlife, and our right to transparency.
We view the use of the AAP process inappropriate and undemocratic for the following reasons:
- Did you know that proper and effective notice of AAPs has yet to be provided by the City, leaving most citizens in the dark about when APPs are being conducted and what the bylaw loans or redesignated parklands are for? For example, our City ran an AAP to adopt a bylaw to borrow approximately 17 million dollars to build the new Firehall downtown. *View the image below for Previous AAPs and opposition numbers. The average 1-2 oppositions clearly show that citizens are poorly informed!
- Did you know the AAP process is like a negative billing scheme whereby all voters (approximately 80,000) are deemed to have approved the bylaw to borrow money or redistribute parkland unless 8,000 citizens, or 10% of the eligible voters, submit opposition forms by the deadline?
Why AAPs Fail Our Citizens and How Your Opposition Can Force a Democratic Referendum
We suggest you oppose the AAP for the following reasons – taxpayers are responsible for paying back loans plus interest, or in this particular AAP’s case, face the permanent loss of parkland. Citizens like you, whose permission is needed to adopt or oppose bylaws, do not receive proper and effective notice, so have no idea they are being deemed a “yes for their approval of the bylaw” all without their knowledge or consent. It’s a terrible injustice.
How to Oppose the AAP:
- Print off the Opposition Form OR pick up at Bartlett and Company Law Office at 225 Vancouver Ave, Nanaimo, BC V9R 6S3, (250) 741-0007 sometime in early to mid July.
- Return the form by hand or by mail to the Legislative Office in City Hall by the deadline of the end of business day by July 21, 2025 at 4:30 p.m.
OR
Return the form to Bartlett and Company by the deadline of July 21, 2025, before NOON, there they will count, scan and deliver your form to the City before the deadline.
*Please join our community so we can keep you updated on other AAPs the City puts out because, as Mayor Krog stated at the December 4, 2023, council meeting, “Other projects are coming“…
