Despite a decision being delayed until spring, changes to London's ward boundaries could still be in place before the next municipal election.
The Corporate Services Committee decided to put off a decision on possible changes until April after a public participation meeting on the issue on Monday.
"What we heard from a number of members of the public was that they didn't feel that we had consulted enough with the areas that were impacted," said Ward 7 Councillor Josh Morgan.
City staff have recommended adjusting the boundaries of wards 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 as a way of rebalancing a growing population in certain areas. The total number of wards would remain unchanged at 14.
By delaying a final decision on new ward boundaries, councillors will be able to hold additional public meetings at the ward level. As well, city staff will be able to include results of the 2016 census in their figures.
"That would be a nice added level of information to ensure that the projections that we've made on ward populations up to this point are truly reflective of the actual changes that have happened in the population," said Morgan, whose ward has the largest and fast growing population.
Morgan believes even with the delay, the boundary changes could still be in place by the 2018 civic election.
"We don't have to pass the final bylaw until the end of December but we do have to leave about a six-month appeal period for the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and in front of that about a 45 day notice period for those appeals to the OMB to be heard," said Morgan. "So we basically have just over half a year to do this. As long as we pass this by the end of April, there should be lots of time to implement changes."
