Jim Hinds is going to seek a second term as a Mission councillor. He has announced his intention to run for office during the next municipal election in October.
Hinds was first elected during the last campaign in 2014.
Hinds said he made the decision to seek another four-year term because there are a number of projects on the go that he wants to see completed.
Those include the development of the southwest area of Mission – the former Genstar lands in Silverdale which now belong to Polygon Homes – and the waterfront project which is still being worked on.
“It’s getting there, better than it has been in the past,” said Hinds about the waterfront.
He said there were a number of issues, steps that had been skipped and needed to be done.
“Mainly the environmental concerns and what kind of buildings can you put on that site? I mean, what’s under the ground? Those things have never been looked at and we are in the process of doing that now. That’s something I want to see move forward,” said Hinds.
He also wants to see the sewer project, a new line across the Fraser River, completed and a proposed transportation network, go ahead.
Both of those projects won’t get fully underway until 2019 after the next election.
“I want to see the fulfillment of the twinning of the highway from Silverdale to Nelson Avenue. We did a lot of lobbying with the provincial and federal government to get that money,” said Hinds.
He wants to continue to help building a better community.
“I just think that we’re in a process that’s moving ahead. It’s taken us a long time to get to this place because we had so much correction to do. “
He said there had never been proper master plans for things like parks and forestry, as to where the district was going.
“There was always talk about it, but never any process. We’ve been doing that process.”
As for development in Mission, Hinds said it can’t be stopped, but it can be managed.
“We can’t stop development so we want to make sure development is done in a proper manner. Not just build because you can build.”
