By Shane O'Neill

Ward 4 residents have their say at neighbourhood planning meeting

Jan 24, 2017 | 9:00 AM

Residents of Ward 4, curious with the future of their neighbourhood, attended a planning meeting Monday evening.

Similar to the three previous meetings, city staff and administration were on hand to discuss the city’s community services master plan and take questions from concerned residents in the ward.

Councillor Don Cody took an early leave from city council to hear what residents in his ward had to say.

“We had a good crowd, and they all asked great questions and all with respect,” Cody said after the question and answer forum. “It wasn’t a complaining session as such, it was just a session for information.”

Cody, himself a longtime public servant, discussed the value of forward-thinking planning and projects like the community services master plan. According to Cody, one thing which makes Prince Albert unique is how engaged its residents are in the operation and development of the city. He said in his experience, communities that are the most engaged also tend to be the most satisfied.

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“The more satisfied [residents] are, the less my work is and I can go and talk to them one-on-one and it’s not about a whole bunch of complaints,” Cody explained. “It’s about ‘look, what can we do collectively to make it better.’”

Hilary and Dave Phillips are residents of Ward 4, and they attended Monday’s meeting to learn more about the city’s plan for the future and to take part in the open forum. They thought the meeting was a positive one, and saw the sincerity in which city staff took the concerns of residents.

“I think it was really good, it was informative,” Hilary explained, “people were given an opportunity to voice their concerns and they appeared to be taken seriously.”

Topics discussed in the forum included community policing and bylaw enforcement, as well as a desire for a truck stop somewhere outside the city core to service the large number of transport trucks that commute through Prince Albert.

The next neighbourhood planning meeting is scheduled for Ward 5 at John Diefenbaker School from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Feb. 2.

Shane O’Neill is paNOW’s city hall reporter and weekend anchor on 900 CKBI. He can be reached at shane.oneill@panow.com or tweet him @stroneill.