The council chambers were full last night.

Several members of the public made presentations in opposition to two motions which promote development in areas where there may be species at risk or provincial wetlands.

Council ultimately passed both.

Councillor Mac Bain, the author of the motions, says they want to allow for faster development when dealing with provincial legislation.

“The legislation is slowing down the process for development,” he says.

Bain says the motions ask the government to exclude all land, streams and lakes within the City of North Bay’s Urban Settlement Area from the species at risk legislation and any municipality within its Urban Settlement Area be allowed to use provincially significant wetlands for development where the applicant can demonstrate no negative impacts on the environment.

But Yan Roberts isn’t pleased.

“I believe deeply council has crossed a line with this. The community cares very deeply about the most fragile members of our community. We’re talking about threatened and endangered species,” he says.

Bain says this is a not a new issue and its affecting many areas of the economy including forestry, mining and agriculture.

He says the motions adopted last night will be presented to the upcoming provincial government representatives at the upcoming Rural Ontario Municipal Conference.