For Immediate release Friday, October 24, 2008

Mission Mayor and Council Make Midnight Announcement:
GENSTAR Hearing Postponed Until Saturday October 25th @ 9am
To Allow For Municipal Election Debate On GENSTAR
Tonight at 6 pm @ Clark Theatre

New Revelations on Tax Impacts of GENSTARs Bill 11 PDA

Vancouver, B.C.- In yet another fascinating twist in Mission last night at midnight, Mayor and Council announced that the "All Candidates Debate" would not be cancelled after all and that the GENSTAR public hearing schedule would be adjusted accordingly. The public hearing will resume Saturday morning @ 9am, when most residents of Mission will likely still be sleeping to recover from 4 straight days of 6 hour long evening debates on the controversial GENSTAR development to double the population of Mission.

At the public hearing last night, with dozens of speakers remaining to be heard @ midnight, a decision was made to continue the hearing process on Saturday the 25th at 9am at the Best Western Hotel.

Highlights of the hearing last night included the first presentations by staff of the Wilderness Committee including Joe Foy and Andrew Radzik, presentations by three children whose parents property may be expropriated by the City of Mission on behalf of GENSTAR, and a presentation from the founder of GENSTARs co-developer Madison Inc. who sat on the Citys impartial "development committee". Also of note was a comment from a Mission City staffer claiming that Environmental Assessments had been conducted, a fact contradicted by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the BC Ministry of Environment. Government submissions claiming that environmental planning work by GENSTAR is inadequate can be viewed at CAUSS.ca Government spokespersons critical of GENSTAR include Scott Barrett, Senior Ecosystems Biologist, Ministry of Environment in Surrey, and Lisa McDonald, Habitat Biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Mission.

Another revelation at the hearing last night involved public questions and comments about Bill 11, the new BC Community Services and Statutes Amendment Act of 2008 which allows corporations like GENSTAR to enter into "Phased Development Agreements" (PDAs) with municipalities. PDAs are long term legal contracts between developers, municipalities, and the BC government. In the case of Missions PDA with GENSTAR, the PDA would be a 20 year long legal contract restricting citizens of Mission from future GENSTAR development decision making. Mission is the first municipality in BC to enter into a PDA with a developer and is also the first to extend the timeframe of a PDA above that recommended by the province (10 years). GENSTAR recently announced that it wanted to amend its PDA to lessen its future financial commitments regarding infrastructure costs. The Abbotsford Times newspaper editorial board recently cautioned the City of Mission regarding its PDA with GENSTAR regarding negative implications to future taxpayers.

The GENSTAR development would result in the doubling of Missions population, increased taxes for Mission residents, is criticized by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Provincial Ministry of Environment, and a majority of Mission residents. Part of the new negative reaction to GENSTAR resulted from their recent request to back out of some of their financial commitments associated with the development, which could leave Mission residents on the hook for certain development infrastructure costs spanning the next 7 election cycles.

For further information contact Andy Miller at 604-992-3099 or Nick Cuff at 604-716-4756