Re-elected Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie is looking forward to addressing the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP) as he begins his eighth term on city council.
Brodie once again secured the mayor’s chair in the municipal election with 23,229 votes (about 67.5 per cent of the votes) from Richmond voters on Saturday, Oct. 15.
“It’s always gratifying to get the support of the people,” said Brodie, adding that the “results were pretty strong.”
“You feel good. Not only do you win, but (you know) you have the support of the people of Richmond.”
When asked what he looks forward to the most in this upcoming term, Brodie told the Richmond News the biggest thing is the review of the Official Community Plan (OCP).
“(The OCP) is going to answer a lot of questions that are outstanding,” said Brodie.
This includes questions on housing, rental housing and “approaches to the questions” on how city council will handle them.
“It’s going to be a big challenge we look forward to.”
The OCP lays out, in broad strokes, a long-term vision of land-use management in the city, for example, neighbourhood density, commercial areas and greenspaces. It can include items like sustainability or transportation policies.
Brodie beat RITE Richmond’s mayoral candidate John Roston, who got 27 per cent of the vote, and Wei Ping Chen who got about 5.4 per cent.
All six incumbents, Chak Au, Carol Day, Bill McNulty, Alexa Loo, Michael Wolfe and Andy Hobbs kept their seats.
RITE candidate Laura Gillanders and former solicitor general Kash Heed, with the Richmond Rise slate, won the last two seats on council – Couns. Harold Steves and Linda McPhail didn’t seek re-election.
Brodie described Gillanders and Heed as “interesting councillors.”
“They come from different points and I’m sure they are very strong and bring interesting perspectives to the table,” he said.
The turnout for the Richmond municipal election was approximately 25 per cent with about 35,000 voters casting a ballot.
