History of CLCS

This article by Gerry Sobie was originally submitted to The Cranbrook Daily Townsman in the Fall of 2010.

In early 2008, a telephone conversation became the impetus for the creation of Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook (CLC). A group of citizens began expressing concern about how our City was developing and what seemed to be a lack of public consultation on expansion of boundaries. They questioned rapid and extensive growth of Cranbrook’s city borders. It became apparent that others shared these apprehensions and the CLC grew by bringing a large and diverse group of people together.

Gatherings of like-minded people evolved into regular meetings and in February 2009 CLC became a formal Society with a structure for membership from which emerged a group of directors to guide the actions of this newly formed organization. It became evident that people wanted to become more informed about the future direction of our City and share in discussion about what could best serve our collective interests.

CLC Society provides grassroots leadership and an inclusive process with a voice for community members. Our vision is to ensure that our community grows and develops in a way that incorporates an environmental ethic, as well as offering a range of housing and transportation choices. We encourage a vibrant social and cultural life, and support sustainable, meaningful employment and business opportunities.

Our mission is to raise awareness in our community, creating a respectful forum where factual information and reasonable opinion can be presented. Ideas expressed and exchanged can only enhance the engagement of all citizens. Opposing views need not galvanize perspectives and separate neighbours, but add considerations and options to collectively arrive at best solutions and practice.

We support existing community assets and values. Recent initiatives like Rails to Trails, Cranbrook Farmer’s Market, Spirit Square and the public library are all wonderful examples of collaboration to the benefit our city and area. We need to become informed about existing and planned new developments and learn from other communities’ practices to ensure responsible growth. CLC is committed to communicating with the public through articles in the local press, letters to the editor, public meetings, our website www.livablecranbrook.org and this blog. www.livablecranbrook.blogspot.com

On this blog we share information and topics important to our city and our citizens.   It is our hope that readers will not only be enlightened and come to a greater understanding of who CLC is and what we are about but also benefit from topics related to sustainability. We invite and welcome your feedback on this blog at http://www.livablecranbrook.blogspot.com/