NANAIMO CITY HALL BLOG

Archive for February, 2011|Monthly archive page

The Race is on… Isn’t it?

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, COMMUNITY CALENDAR, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL ISSUES on February 28, 2011 at 12:42 pm

Ron Bolin, Feb. 28, 2010

We know the field.  Now we need to know the candidates and their issues.  Thus far I have seen about 80-125 words per candidate in the Daily News, and about 275 words per candidate in the Bulletin.  In returning to the Daily News this morning to check some info, I couldn’t even find the by-election listed on the front page and a search didn’t find anything either.  I hope that the Bulletin will keep running the by-election banner until it is over.  We will see what more our newspapers do to keep us informed of the candidates and the issues.

I have heard rumours of an all candidates meeting to be held soon, but have not heard any details.  Hopefully, with only six candidates, there will be adequate time for some debate on the issues rather than the simple “I am a good person and I am for lower taxes and better services for everyone,” which is the usual fare.  (I do not mean to insult the candidates here.  Given the few seconds that have traditionally been allocated per candidate, that is about all that they can say.)  Read the rest of this entry »

The new zoning bylaw will rezone every property in the City!!

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on February 17, 2011 at 4:09 pm

Ron Bolin: Feb. 17, 2011

While I have been blissfully contemplating the effects of the possible upzonings in the “Corridor” areas of the new rezoning bylaw, I was brought to a sobering halt when, in response to a question put to the planners about which parcels would see zoning changes as a result of the new bylaw, I received the following response:  “the new zoning bylaw will rezone every property in the City if adopted.” (emphasis his).

Upon reflection he is, of course, correct.  While looking at the trees, I have overlooked the forest.  While most of the proposed changes will not impact land use categories ( by changing the major type of land use (though there are some)), the intensity of use or possible lot size changes which may impact our urban density are to be found virtually everywhere and the number of zones has been reduced.  Everyone should be aware of the changes to their property rights and those of their neighbours which would be brought about by accepting these new zoning definitions.  Read the rest of this entry »

Plan Nanaimo Advisory Committee and the Newcastle/Brechin Neighbourhood Plan Recommendation

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on February 16, 2011 at 12:09 am

Ron Bolin: Feb. 16, 2011

Following a brief report on the proposed new zoning bylaw this afternoon, PNAC began the thankless task of deciding whether to forward a recommendation on the Newcastle/Brechin Neighbourhood Plan to Council.  I say thankless because rather than there being a Newcastle/Brechin Neighbourhood Association, the plan was set before three associations, The Newcastle group, the Brechin Group and the Stewart Avenue Group, each of which has relatively –and I stress relatively- homogenous goals for itself which are at some odds with the others.  And each of them seems to be rather vague about their membership and authority in representing their neighbourhoods beyond having been charged by Council to come up with a council formed by three representatives from each. Read the rest of this entry »

How the City effectively Creates Millions in Property Values

In CITY FINANCE, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on February 13, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Ron Bolin:  Feb. 13, 2011

A few years ago Council, in the same kind of wisdom that it used for the Conference Centre, decided to get rid of the Urban Containment Boundary (UCB) which demarcated urban from rural land in the city by basically shifting the UCB to the city boundary.  This allowed two massive development proposals on the southern boundary of the city: Sandstone and Cable Bay (now called Oceanview).  The city has spent countless hours working with both ventures, but in this piece I will only be concerned with Oceanview.

You may recall that we had an “alternate referendum process” dealing with a Cable Bay/Oceanview annexation to the City from the RDN where over 10% of Nanaimo voters refused that negative option process which entailed passage of the required referendum question unless over 10% of registered voters, acting by petition, refuse it.  Read the rest of this entry »

So You want to be on City Council – Part 3: The Benefits of Victory

In CITY GOVERNMENT on February 13, 2011 at 12:49 am

Ron Bolin: Feb. 13, 2011

So now you have spent considerable time attending City Council, Finance Policy Committee of the whole meetings as well as those of a number of other city committees in which you may be interested to determine the issues with which  Council is currently grappling and add these to those which you see but Council apparently does not.  You have combed through agendas and minutes sufficiently to identify the mechanisms by which issues are brought to Council and how they are handled there.  You have familiarized yourself with the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP), and its major bylaws.  You are knowledgeable about the Community Charter and your role in the city governance as well as that of staff.  You have made your positions on issues known by speaking at Council and in letters to the editor.  Read the rest of this entry »

So You want to be on City Council – Part 2: Count the Costs

In CITY GOVERNMENT, UNCATEGORIZED on February 11, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Ron Bolin: Feb. 11, 2010

The Costs of Running for Municipal Office (Nanaimo)

Once you have filed your papers with Nanaimo’s Chief Electoral Office at City Hall, it’s time to get busy and campaign.  You can leave it at that and hope that you have enough friends to get you one of the top eight vote counts to make you a Councillor, or, if you have elected to run for the Mayor’s job, the top tally in that category.

Nanaimo does not have political parties nor do we have wards.  The field is wide open to all comers who, as you discovered in your nomination papers, can find two Nanaimo electors to sign for you and pay a $200 deposit to guarantee that you will remove all the clutter of signs that you have erected during the campaign.  Read the rest of this entry »

Department of Land Use Change Management?

In CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF on February 9, 2011 at 2:08 pm

Mayor Ruttan and Councillors:

In attending last night’s first open house concerning the new zoning bylaw, I was disappointed to find that several fundamental issues which I had previously raised remained un-addressed.

First of these is a representation of the magnitude and location of the proposed zoning changes, i.e. a map which shows only the lots which will be directly impacted by the update as well as those indirectly impacted by now finding themselves adjacent to a newly changed zone.  Such a map, which should be relatively easy to provide using the city’s GIS system, will allow citizens -and yourselves-  to understand what is happening to the city as a whole rather than the tedious lot by lot, map to map, comparison required by the present presentation. Read the rest of this entry »

So You want to be a City Councillor – Part 1

In CITY GOVERNMENT, UNCATEGORIZED on February 8, 2011 at 12:45 pm

Ron Bolin:  Feb. 8, 2011

So you want to be a Nanaimo City Councillor, eh?  Let’s take a look at the job that you are angling for.  The foundation of these positions arises from the Province’s Community Charter.  Here is what it says about the job:

The Job Description:

“Community Charter: Part 5 — Municipal Government and Procedures

Division 1 — Council Roles and Responsibilities

Council as governing body

The “Other” City Council Meetings

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, FINANCE POLICY COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, SOCIAL ISSUES on February 6, 2011 at 11:46 pm

Ron Bolin: Feb. 3, 2011

In 2011 Nanaimo City Council will hold 18 Monday regular Council Meetings in the 300 seat Shaw Auditorium at our downtown conference centre.  During this same year, the full Council will meet 19 times as the “Finance and Policy Committee of the Whole” (FPCOW) in the board room of City Hall with few seats to spare.  The major difference between these two meetings of Council is related to the fact that bylaws and the exercise of bylaw powers cannot be delegated [Community Charter section 154].  But as we shall see, Council handles many very important issues at these meetings. If we consider the last two FPCOW meetings (Jan.17 and 31, 2011) and the next (Feb. 7, 2011) we can see the kinds of issues undertaken: Read the rest of this entry »

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