Large stack of signatures opposing amalgamation delivered to IRAC

Gary and Lucy Robbins broughta large stack offorms and hundreds of signatures into the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission Tuesday to registercommunityopposition to the proposal to form the Greater Three Rivers area municipality.

They waited until the finaldeadline date of May 22to bring in as many objections as possible.

"I'm hoping that this will let the government know that there is strongopposition,"Lucysaid.

The Robbins live in the unincorporated area of Martinvale and are part of the Rural Coalition of PEI, a group of volunteers leading the fight against amalgamation.

"It's just not right, we've got to have a say in it," Gary said.

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"It's the whole process itself and how secretive it was and underhanded," said Lucy.

The Robbins said theydon't want higher taxes, and worry about new by-laws with land use,and loss of control with the creation of super municipalities.

Plansubmitted in March

In March, the Three Rivers Steering Committeesubmitted an amalgamation proposalto the province.

It includes seven communities Brudenell, Cardigan, Georgetown,LorneValley, Lower Montague, Montague andValleyfield and the unincorporated areas in the Cardigan, Georgetown and Montague fire districts.

The towns of Georgetown and Montague have submitted official objections to the amalgamation as well.

1,500 signatures collected

The Robbinssay their group has handed in 1,500 signed objection forms,but they know of others who have mailed in their objections on their own.

"We don't want this," said Lucy. "We're hoping for a recommendation fromIRACnot to move forward with this."

The Robbins said they and many other community volunteers have put their liveson hold to fight the amalgamation.

"We've spent the last fourmonths going door-to-door, talking to everyone we can think of," Gary said.

They say they gathered objections from residents in the affected area and beyond because they see it as an Island-wide issue.

Decision still months away

The new Municipal Government Act lays out the process as to what happens whenthere is an objection to a proposal.

According to timelines set out in that legislation, a decision could be several months away. IRAC or the minister may call a public hearing, "Where theminister has determined there is significant public interest in the matter," reads, Section 17,4(b) of the act.

Objections from municipalities require a mediator and then possibly a public hearing if an issueremains unresolved.

In the end, IRAC willmake a recommendation to the provincial government but executive council will make the final decision on whether amalgamation goes ahead.

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