In light of their razor thin victory in Saturday’s referendum, two of the leading no side supporters expressed happiness with their 35 vote victory but were otherwise subdued in their comments.

In fact, Citizens for a Liveable Cranbrook (CLC) President Sharon Cross and CLC Vice President Wayne Stetski both expressed the hope that the community would heal after such a bitter and divisive campaign.

Both agreed it was time to “move on” and renew planning for the city’s future, but with more involvement on the part of ordinary Cranbrook citizens.

“The community has spoken,” said Cross. “I think there’s some healing that needs to go on, but I think the vote delivered a very clear message that if the AAP (Alternative Approval Process) didn’t deliver a clear message about East Hill expansion, we got one now.”

The referendum was triggered when CLC gathered more than 3,000 alternative approval forms in August calling for a vote on the controversial East Hill boundary expansion when less than 1,500 of such forms were needed.

Stetski said despite the closeness of the vote the result doesn’t have to be divisive for the community. “I think if the mayor and council now really do take the time to focus on the issues were facing in Cranbrook like infrastructure, the homeless downtown, trying to get an overpass to connect with the north side of town. If these matters are looked after, I don’t think it has to be divisive in the end.

“Mayor and Council need to really move on now and focus on all the things that need to be done to make our city better.”

Even though the 35 per cent turnout wasn’t as high as many people expected, Cross said it was higher than the 30 per cent that turned out in last November’s municipal vote which says something too.

“I believe the spirit of our community has experienced a huge wakening and I believe we have no place to go but up and forward. We have huge potential, right here and right now.”

Cross said the vote clearly shows many Cranbrook citizens think the City’s first priority should be improving the community we have now instead of developing another city beyond the current boundaries.

“People want to have a say in the direction of their community. The message we were hearing is let’s fix what we have now before we get distracted with such a huge development.”

Cross said the referendum campaign was a “huge learning experience” for CLC and at times a bit of a difficult one. “They (the Yes Committee) had a well-funded campaign and it worked on a lot of people. There were a lot of attempts to discredit our information but we stood by it and maintained our integrity throughout. They tried to discredit our information without being specific and that’s very telling.”

Both Cross and Stetski said CLC ran a $4,900 campaign against A $20,000 campaign by the City and a far more expensive campaign by the Say Yes to Opportunity Committee that could have been as high as $100,000. It’s also not known how much the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce spent on the Yes Campaign.

Stetski said he also learned a lot from the referendum campaign including not to predict results. “I should have learned last year (when he ran a close second to Scott Manjak in the mayoralty race) not to predict outcomes.”

As close as it was, Council should heed the results of the referendum and realize people want a direct say in decisions important to them and their future and not have everything decided by closed-door meetings at City Hall, Stetski said.

“The Mayor and Council need to hold community visioning meetings to better understand what the citizens want.”

Stetski said council should also acknowledge the perilous state of Cranbrook’s infrastructure and do something about it. “We should concentrate on fixing the infrastructure we have rather than adding more.”

The City is also taking the wrong approach to building the local economy, Stetski said. “There’s a lesson here that we need to build our economy by bringing in new industry and not relying on real estate speculation as a way to build our future.”

“The more I thought of it the last while, I thought when was the last time we actually brought in a new industry to Cranbrook?”

As for the future of the CLC, Cross said “we have a lot of work ahead of us so we’re going to take our leave from the community. The community has spoken and in the future we will be open and receptive to listening to what the community has to say.”

Retired principal Dave Humphrey, a mainstay on the no campaign, said the referendum finally gave Cranbrook citizens “meaningful input” into a major municipal decision.

“It should appear obvious that there is a large proportion of our City population which would like to be engaged when decisions of this magnitude are being made. Is now not a good time for us all to take a bit of a break, wait for the various status documents, and other relevant information to be released, then work together as a community to collectively plan the next course of action for the future of our City?