Delta Police Concludes Investigation into Southlands On-line Survey

A two-month investigation into fraud charges involving the City of Delta’s on-line Southlands survey was completed on June 21, 2010. No evidence of fraudulent activity was found, confirming the source of error in collecting data for one of the most important decisions for the future of Tsawwassen was a lack of competence from Delta’s Staff.

The complaint was lodged with Delta Police Department following the admittance from Staff members that electronic submissions of the survey were changing responses from anti-development to pro-development. This error was one of many in a flawed process to gather information as to the future of the Southlands. The fact that a police complaint was launched highlights the extreme lack of trust the community has in its elected officials to accurately gather public opinion.

In response to the numerous problems and inaccuracies involving surveys collected regarding the future of the Southlands in Tsawwassen, Delta Mayor and Council agreed to discard the surveys and commission Ipsos Reid to redo the collection of data, at a cost of approximately $20,000 to the taxpayers.

The potential re-designation of the Southlands agricultural land to accommodate a housing development is by far the most contentious component of the process undertaken to revise the existing Tsawwassen Area Plan. Any redesignation will change the Official Community Plan and open up the Southlands for a 1900 unit housing development by Century Holdings.

This piece of farmland was the cause of the longest public hearing in Commonwealth history and a resident run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2000 unit development that was proposed for the same property.