NANAIMO CITY HALL BLOG

Archive for June, 2011|Monthly archive page

Water on the Brain

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on June 30, 2011 at 8:37 pm

Ron Bolin:  June 30, 2011

Water, water everywhere, but nary a drop is safe.  It seems that wherever we look in Nanaimo these days there are expensive water problems which are in dire and imminent need of expensive fixing.  First we had the sewers needed to take the bad water away from various pockets of the city at a cost of up to $19 million.  Then there came the water filtration system to get safe water for them, the rest of us now living here and those tens of thousands assumed to be coming here in the next 25 years.  This tab comes up to an estimated $65 million with $50 million to come from current Nanaimo taxpayers.  Then there is the $16 million for a new city hall annex to house the management of these troubled waters.  All these figures are estimates and we still remember the estimate originally  given for the conference centre. Read the rest of this entry »

Lawrence Rieper on the new Zoning Bylaw

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF, UNCATEGORIZED on June 28, 2011 at 1:40 pm

Lawrence Rieper: June 27, 2011

NEW DRAFT ZONING BYLAW – REASONS AGAINST

OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION

A CASE IN POINT – WENTWORTH STREET

EXCLUSION OF SINGLE FAMILY AREA OF THE OLD CITY FROM BYLAW

RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS AND FAIR APPLICATION OF THE BYLAW

QUESTIONING THE NEED FOR DENSITY AND VARIOUS GROWTH STUDIES

THE NEW ZONING BYLAW – WAS THE PROCESS FLAWED?

ANNEX Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Taylor on the new Zoning Bylaw

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on June 27, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Fred Taylor:  June 23, 2011

Mayor Ruttan & Council Members:

May I state I am opposed  to the proposed new Zoning Bylaw 4500.

I often wonder who demands change to the quality of life, neighbourhood and community.

I, for one have always understood our Community has attracted new comers not based upon change of density.  I remember just a few years ago the City Manager provided a power point presentation to the Council using Benson Meadows, the spacious subdivision adjoining Shady Mile on Jingle Pot Road as the type of attraction to our Community.

What type of a high density ‘bedroom’ are you trying to create? Read the rest of this entry »

Nanaimo’s New Clothes: But do they fit?

In CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on June 24, 2011 at 3:25 pm

Ron Bolin: June 24, 2011

The Public Hearing on Thursday, June 23, represented the final chance for public input before the new Zoning Bylaw goes to Council for third reading.  For such a momentous event –in an opening statement the Planning Department noted that this bylaw would change the circumstances of virtually every lot in the city in some way- the crowd was both relatively small (the auditorium was less than half full) and generally subdued.  It came to me during the hearing that this was because the document is so all encompassing and so full of unidentified specifics that no one, including Council or indeed the very staff that had worked on it seemed to have a complete grasp on all its details.  Read the rest of this entry »

Generous to a Fault

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, LETTERS TO THE LOCAL PRESS, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF, SOCIAL ISSUES on June 17, 2011 at 11:35 am

Ron Bolin: June 17, 2011

The words of Matthew (25:29) rang true on Monday night as Nanaimo City Council undertook the entire cost of installing a City sewer installation in the Green Lake area.  This will cost taxpayers about $31, 700 for each of 101 lots for a total of about $3.2 million. There was reputedly a promise to bring sewers to this and other areas some 36 years ago upon amalgamation with the city.  Clear evidence of the nature of this promise and the split of expenses has not been made public. Read the rest of this entry »

Raising the Devil

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on June 9, 2011 at 12:47 pm

Ron Bolin: June 4, 2011

In 1587 Pope Sixtus V originated the office of Advocatus Diaboli, the Devil’s Advocate, a canon lawyer appointed by Church authorities to argue against a candidate for canonization. The purpose of such process is typically to test the quality of the original argument in favour, to identify weaknesses in its structure, and to use such information to either improve or abandon the original position.  Both we and our political masters are sorely in need of such an office in dealing with the issues which they promote and which impact our liberties and our pocketbooks.

In a Wikipedia article on the subject it is noted that the Advocatus Diaboli was abandoned by Pope John Paul II in 1983. Read the rest of this entry »

Supportive Social Housing – Bowen Rd. on Hold

In PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL ISSUES on June 7, 2011 at 11:39 am

Gord Fuller – June 7, 2011

 Alrighty then, this is a bit on the long side but in a bid to provide some factual info what the heh.

So on May 30th a motion was made by Councillor Bill Holdom to approve the rezoning of the proposed Supportive Housing location on Bowen Rd. but put any development on hold until the others have been built and the need for more is determined.  Also the property could be sold.  Once moved and seconded the motion passed with only Councillors Bestwick and Sherry dissenting.  Read the rest of this entry »

Nanaimo: BC’s First Municipal Conglomerate?

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on June 2, 2011 at 12:00 am

Ron Bolin: June 1, 2011

In what is apparently one of the hottest new moves toward privatizing the public’s business, Nanaimo’s City Council on Monday approved the Articles of Incorporation of Nanaimo’s new Economic Development Corporation.

During the question period at that meeting, as the subject had not come up in Council’s discussion, I asked whether citizens would,  barring in-camera sessions, be welcome at the meetings of the Corporation which they are funding. Read the rest of this entry »

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