NANAIMO CITY HALL BLOG

Archive for July, 2010|Monthly archive page

Truly affordable housing experiment in Vancouver

In PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 28, 2010 at 11:45 am

Frank Murphy — July 28, 2010
Vancouver journalist Frances Bula in Monday’s Globe and Mail described an innovative new affordable housing initiative in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.  It’s a project by the people behind the Woodward’s redevelopment and includes some interesting elements like no parking and owners perform some of the building maintenance themselves. They claim a couple with two minimum wage paychecks could carry the mortgage. Habitat for Humanity and an arm of Vancity Credit Union and a neighbourhood housing group are involved.

One thing I found of particular interest: it’s estimated that it costs between $30,000 – $40,000 to build a single parking stall.

When is a Council Meeting a Council Meeting?

In CITY GOVERNMENT on July 27, 2010 at 12:11 pm

Frank Murphy — July 27, 2010
Email sent to City Manager Al Kenning Wed. July 21st and response received:

To: Al Kenning
Subject: Council Meetings

Hi Al –

Not urgent, but when you have a minute or perhaps you could forward to who best could answer –

I always wondered where in our municipal level of government discussion and debate happens among the Councillors. Official Council meetings don’t seem to lend themselves to this. They seem to be more of a review process than a forum for ideas to be contested and developed. So my question is Read the rest of this entry »

Less than Mushrooms…

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF on July 26, 2010 at 1:21 pm

Ron Bolin — July 26, 2010
What have we been told about the final total cost of the Conference Centre?  What have we been told about the reasons why we paid some $600,000 to our former City Manager to go away?  What have we been told about our suit against the Millennium and Suro development companies to collect over $3 million in payments for services not rendered?  What have we been told about city agreements with shell companies?  What have we been told about the dreams of our City Council for the development of our city and how they propose to bring these dreams to fruition?  How many bylaws go unenforced due to tacit or active decisions by Council?  What opinions do our Councillors hold about what is happening in our city and our Province which will affect our lives in Read the rest of this entry »

City, developers looking to wreck waterfront area

In LETTERS TO THE LOCAL PRESS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 22, 2010 at 10:05 am

Dan Appell — July 22, 2010
To the Editor, Nanaimo News Bulletin

Re: Brechin residents don’t own city’s waterfront region, Letters, July 17.

I must respond to John Bailey’s very insulting letter.

To start, I am not a resident of Newcastle/Brechin Hill, but I have been involved in the community’s efforts to create a plan for itself. The property owners that I have met during this planning process are all working very hard to protect the value and increase the equity of their property. Their efforts are commendable.

The property owners of Brechin Hill are also trying to promote and defend the very best practices of urban development – development that is both sustainable and benefits everybody in Nanaimo.

Unfortunately, a few developers, would like to take value away from the Brechin Hill property owners, and use that to pay for amenities along the waterfront.

Bailey might be all right with that, because it looks like he gets something for nothing. The developers like it because they really do get something for nothing. Sadly, the people who pay for this, are our neighbours in Newcastle/Brechin Hill.

What these developers are trying to do on our waterfront isn’t right and it isn’t fair. It represents the very worst in urban planning practices.

The fact that certain city planners are doing their best to help these few developers, at the expense of a whole neighbourhood, is a disgusting shame. We need to put a stop to it.

Dan Appell

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City’s summer employment numbers misleading

In LETTERS TO THE LOCAL PRESS, SOCIAL ISSUES on July 21, 2010 at 11:26 am

Gord Fuller — July 21, 2010
To the Editor, Nanaimo News Bulletin

The fact that unemployment in Nanaimo dropped from nine per cent to eight per cent in June may not be cause for jubilation.

Generally, an increase in employment takes place during the summer, though these are primarily low-paying service based jobs with little likelihood of permanency.

Still there are no real statistics to say an increase in employment in Nanaimo is the reason for the decrease and so perhaps other reasons should be explored.

One reason might be apparent when looked at in conjunction to the rise of the vacancy rate in Nanaimo to 4.4 per cent in June. A correlation between the drop in unemployment and the rise in vacancy rates is not unfathomable and perhaps both are due simply to people leaving the community for better prospects elsewhere.

Then, of course you have those on EI whose claims may have run out and until they apply and are catalogued as income assistance recipients will be in limbo statistically. That is of course if they aren’t already among those who have migrated elsewhere.

One thing that is evident is the decrease to unemployment will have little or no effect on the endemic poverty that exists in the Read the rest of this entry »

There are Bylaws… And then there are Bylaws

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 19, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Ron Bolin  – July 19, 2010
I was fortunate enough this afternoon (July 19, 2010) to have attended the FPCOW meeting of Council. There was really only one issue and it dealt with Real Estate and Construction signs. A real snooze, eh? Well not really. SIGN BYLAW 1987 NO. 2850 covers all kinds of signs, among them those used by Developers, Builders and the Real Estate Industry to tout their wares along our city streets. The bylaw specifies the number, the size and the allowed duration for such signs. As it turns out, bylaw 2850 has not only been ignored, but apparently officially ignored, for at least the last 2.5 years as the result of an In-Camera decision by Council in 2008 (the old Council) to do so.

A number of major issues are involved here. Some Council members were concerned about the fact that certain of the local Real Estate related businesses were, in effect, thumbing their noses at the City and its Bylaws. But they were also concerned about the precedent of the failure of the city to act which had been set over the last number of years as a result of a Council decision.

Today’s meeting brought forward a Staff recommendation that the practice of ignoring the bylaw for Real Estate and Construction signs continue while Staff works on a rewrite of the Sign Bylaw (time line unspecified) despite 32 reported complaints about these signs. There was Read the rest of this entry »

The Road to Improvement

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 14, 2010 at 1:35 pm

Ron Bolin —  July 14, 2009
The July 13 meeting of the Plan Nanaimo Advisory Committee (PNAC) was of particular interest in facing the future of land development in the city. The Committee recommended adoption of a student housing project on Wakesiah, seeking to kick start the “Corridor” zone which currently does not exist but is contemplated in the upcoming overhaul of the zoning bylaw, about which more later. This is an interesting idea as it will permit the development of very small units which will supposedly be rented to students only. I suspect that it may be difficult to limit the accommodation to students in light of the need for low cost housing in Nanaimo and the situation of the homeless and those who must live hand to mouth in our McJobs environment. It is interesting that small units should be OK for year round housing for students, but that others should be excluded. Are all non-student homeless shiftless and unworthy of living with others in peace and quiet? It seems to me that we are not really thinking clearly on this subject, even though I support the project. What do you think?

Also of interest were reports on the two Neighbourhood Plans which are currently under development. The South End Plan seems to be going swimmingly and should be completed in the fall. The Newcastle+Brechin Plan remains plagued with all those problems associated with the rights of those who own waterfront property along the channel versus those who own Read the rest of this entry »

Random thoughts and questions

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 14, 2010 at 10:55 am

Frank Murphy — July 14, 2010
We are still waiting for word from the Mayor’s office on the following:

A tantalizing, teasing hint leaked by himself a couple of months ago regarding an imminent announcement of great importance. The Daily News reported that Councilors “in the the know” said all they could say was that it had nothing to do with the NNC hotel. Other Councilors said they knew nothing about it. The announcement itself should be along any day now.

Although there’s been a number of assurances that the details of the financial settlement that sent former City Manager Jerry Berry on his way — with something in excess of a half a million dollars in his jeans — would be made public shortly, we wait. And we wait.

“By the end of the week” is a timeline offered on a number of outstanding issues, most recently the latest developments in the City’s legal action taken against Millennium to cover moneys paid to them for not building the hotel. We wait.

_______________________________

Matt Hussman’s short term as Executive Director of the Downtown Nanaimo Partnership has come to an end. I’m hearing that Matt and the new BIA board weren’t able to come to agreement on a new contract so both walked away. Too Read the rest of this entry »

What Price “Progress”?

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on July 11, 2010 at 5:54 pm

Ron Bolin — July 11, 2010
Last Thursday night Council attended a Public Hearing to listen to the views of citizens on applications for spot zoning bylaw changes which would lead to changes on the ground in their areas of interest. While the request for the rezoning of a parcel of land within the Harbour Park Mall to raise the height limit for a proposed condominium tower from 6 stories to 26 stories got most of the pre-hearing press, and indeed did draw cautionary comments from three neighbouring community organizations as well as both favourable and unfavourable opinion from attending individuals, the most stimulating discussion of the evening came on another parcel.

A very well organized and prepared group of Hillcrest Avenue home owners presented an impassioned and compelling case against permitting a 6 unit development in their midst on a lot zoned for single family dwellings. Their concern was that this development would provide a disruption to their quiet family neighbourhood enjoyment as well as reduce the character and the value of their properties. Most of those attending appeared to be members of young families who prized their neighbourhood and their homes highly.

Here is where the rubber hits the road in the ongoing challenges brought about by a Read the rest of this entry »

Who is kidding who?

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, LETTERS TO THE LOCAL PRESS on July 4, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Ron Bolin —  July 4, 2010
In “Our $3M hotel money may be lost”, July 3, Derek Spalding easily gives in to our all too prevalent tendency to self victimization by putting forward the idea that our City representatives were so negligent that they signed a deal with, and gave over $3 million in taxpayer dollars to, shell companies which have no assets and thus we should have no expectations. If this is found to be the case, then heads should roll from Council, Senior Staff and the City’s Solicitors.

Another example of Nanaimo defeatism is found in our Mayor’s statement that we need to come up “with a fair and equitable settlement…” Fair and equitable is compensation in full. To begin to waffle before the matter is engaged is extremely disconcerting. What kind of a game have we been playing and who has been played? What kind of a game is City Hall continuing to play? Did Mr. Berry not wish to be around for the end game?

I don’t know about my fellow citizens, but I am tired of being a patsy.

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