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Those changes, as previously reported by the Mercury Tribune, are final and cannot be appealed.

Among those motions are the referral of plans for a new downtown park to budget discussions later this year, gathering public feedback on the potential for more protected view corridors (as is in place downtown for the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate) for other municipal landmarks, and directing Mayor Cam Guthrie to send a letter to Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, expressing the city’s response to the province’s changes to öÏÓãÊÓƵapp’s official plan.

“I think when we submit our (official plan amendment) every five years, we expect some edits, we expect some assurance that we’re in alignment, we expect some language changes. It’s not unusual to get amendments back,â€� Coun. Leanne Caron, who brought the motions forward, said.

“This was very different. These were far more than alignment amendments, these were fundamental, significant changes to the look and feel of our city.�

Voting against all of Caron’s motions, Guthrie said these motions were “going to have intergovernmental issues. I think this is poking the province in the eye, I don’t think it’s helpful.�

“I feel like this narrative continues to perpetuate that öÏÓãÊÓƵapp is a difficult place to do business and that this is a difficult place to try to build homes,â€� the mayor said.

“And I think one of the questions that have been lost in this a little bit is why is it that developers and third parties had to go around the city and lobby the (provincial) government on things? Has anyone ever really thought about that for a second? Maybe it’s because we’re the problem.â€�

Guthrie was referring to a number of changes made by the province to specific properties in the city’s official plan, reflecting changes requested by developers in letters to the province. For example, part of ., originally designated as a significant natural area is now industrial, with the province specifically stating “nothing in this plan shall prevent the construction of industrial buildings and ancillary buildings, landscaping and any related works.�

Following a question from Caron earlier in the meeting, city staff confirmed the property’s owner began early talks with city hall last year for developing that property but with no formal application submitted.

According to a number of letters submitted to the province as part of its review of the official plan update, that property is owned by NewCold, which is planning to build a cold storage facility there, which the öÏÓãÊÓƵapp Chamber of Commerce states would create 550 full-time jobs and more than $45 million in annual wages once completed.

A number of councillors took issue with Guthrie’s comment that city council was the reason more housing wasn’t being built in öÏÓãÊÓƵapp, with Caron noting if developers and home builders stuck with the building sizes in the official plan — applications only come to council if the property owner is seeking to rezone the property or have a proposal counter to the official plan — “you can build tomorrow, you can have your shovels in the ground once your site plan is approved.

“We need a development community that works with us in collaboration by following our policies.�

“I think we have a responsibility to let the province know that we’re wanting to work with them collaboratively, but we do have concerns, and it’s not much of a democracy if we’re afraid to express those concerns,â€� Coun. Michele Richardson, referring to Guthrie’s comments that speaking up could cause issues for the city with the provincial government.

“If the province … would see us as being difficult for that or be punitive with us because we want to be heard, I think that’s an incredible shame.â€�