Strongly worded announcement opens first council meeting

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sutton, November 23, 2021—The newly elected council of the Town of Sutton started its first meeting on Monday, November 22, 2021, by announcing its intentions in clear terms. Faithful to the commitments made by its team during the election campaign, Mayor Robert Benoît unveiled the first measures intended to answer the expectations expressed by the population.

“We said we would be in action and we have been in action for two weeks already,” said Mayor Benoît, before thanking all the voters, defeated candidates, and the former council for their civic participation, as well as the administration for its enthusiastic cooperation. “We welcome the election result with humility; by winning all the seats, we have been given a clear mandate that allows us to make decisions quickly.”

Creation of a working group on drinking water

The supply of drinking water has become a major issue not only in Sutton, but in all the surrounding municipalities. “This is a very complex problem and we must apply the precautionary principle,” said the mayor. “The Town does not have the internal resources to analyze the situation alone, so we are pleased to announce that three experts, residents of Sutton, have offered to help us: Alexis Dufour, Hubert Noël, and Louis D’Amours are specialists in water management. They have impressive resumés!” The working group will be set up very quickly with news to follow.

Public consultation session on the urban plan

In order to actively relaunch the urban plan and regulation revision file, initiated at the end of 2020 and put on ice since the citizen participation session last May, the new council has announced that a public consultation session will be held on Monday, December 20, using a new approach. Council will receive and hear one by one all the people who have made an appointment and submitted a brief on specific issues related to the urban plan and regulations. “We want to know what the irritants are and what the proposed solutions are,” said the mayor. “We want to debate the issues collectively and thus get a vision.” Two time slots will be open for this first session, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., December 20, 2021. Depending on the number of requests received, a second session could be held when the holidays are over in early January. Workshops will then be held around the main topics. More information on the details of this session will be posted soon.

Extended PIIA

Council adopted a notice of motion to extend the provisions of the PIIA (site planning and architectural integration plan) to constructions of four dwellings or more, as well as to integrated projects (more than one building on the same lot) throughout the territory. The goal of this approach is to ensure a harmonious integration of real estate projects in the surrounding environment. Until the new by-law is adopted at the next meeting, all new applications related to this notice of motion will be suspended. “We don’t want to prevent new construction, but we want to control it and preserve the unique character of our territory,” said the mayor.  

New watchword: Respecting the rules

By refusing two requests for minor derogations last night, council wished to send a firm message: “We have regulations, they must be applied. If it turns out during our review of the urban plan and regulations that certain clauses no longer correspond to our reality, we will modify them. In the meantime, we want them to be respected.”

Creation of joint committees to come

At the next meeting in December, Council plans to define the composition of the various committees on which elected officials, members of the administration, and representatives of the population will sit. To this end and to ensure citizen participation, Council will call upon citizens to submit their candidacies, according to their fields of interest and expertise. 

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The November 22, 2021 council meeting can be viewed on vidéo on YouTube.

Press Release