NANAIMO CITY HALL BLOG

Archive for the ‘EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS’ Category

Doublespeak at City Hall?

In CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF on September 13, 2011 at 10:22 am

Fred Taylor: September 12, 2011

City of Nanaimo
455 Wallace Street
Nanaimo, B.C.

Mayor Ruttan & Council Members:

I ask the Council to ‘table’ the Report “Designation of Park Land – Park Dedication Bylaw No. 7137″ for consideration at the next Council meeting.

The public must have the opportunity to review the complete document; as of Monday morning, September 12, 2011 the Agenda has not contained a copy of the Bylaw 7137 either on the city web site or available printed copy.

There are also new parklands under consideration which may be included.

The report does recognize “24 dedicated parks by Bylaw” No.’s 735,  2255,  2671 and 2803.

To date, I can only recall Bylaw 2255 of Public discussion.

Why are these park Dedication Bylaws not on the city web site bylaws page, do we have something to hide ? Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Taylor: Calling City Hall

In EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on September 8, 2011 at 3:53 pm

Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:28:07 -0700
To: mayor&council@nanaimo.ca
From: Fred Taylor <fhjtaylor@telus.net>
Subject: city hall


the long weekend just past gave everyone extra rest

the graffiti artists extra time to play

in my rest, I dreamed they ‘painted’ City Hall

my God !!    they did, you should see the parking lot !!

their expertise gained 1 (remember just 1) more parking spot and to top that off a one way circle, yes your right, in the parking lot Read the rest of this entry »

How high is too high, and where?

In EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT on September 3, 2011 at 4:55 pm

Pam Agnew:  September 2, 2011, intro by Ron Bolin

On September 8 there will be a Public Hearing dealing with a number of issues, many relating to changes in the recently passed new zoning bylaw.  One of these deals with the heights of buildings in residential neighbourhoods.   This issue finds developers organizing to keep the 9m height which was brought in with the new bylaw, and others, primarily current home owners, on the side of an amendment recently passed unanimously by Council , which would take height back to the 8.25m where it has been for some decades.

The letter below is from Pam Agnew, a current homeowner to Council.

_______________________________________________

Dear Mayor and Council,

I write to you as a Nanaimo property owner to express my support for a height restriction of 8.25 metres for single family residences in established neighbourhoods in Nanaimo.  Read the rest of this entry »

Where’s the Beef? Here’s the Beef!

In CITY FINANCE, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, LETTERS TO THE LOCAL PRESS on May 7, 2011 at 11:16 pm

Ron Bolin:  May 7, 2011

Re: “Politicians explain decision on annex”, by Derek Spalding, Daily News, on May 06.

I am puzzled by the city’s ability to leap from a call for expressions of interest based, as I recall, on some vague parameters, to an apparently signed contract, in a single bound.  Normally, as I understand business practices, a selection of the most suitable expressions would be made and their proponents would then be invited to respond in a public tendering process to a detailed set of requirements.

While I do not purport to know at this time whether spending an additional $9.7 million dollars (162%) more than it would cost to bring the existing building up to standard is a good deal, 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 »

Zoning Bylaw Open Houses

In EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF on January 26, 2011 at 10:19 am

Posted By: Gord Fuller

As someone who lives and has lived in the South End for a number of years I have often been curious when it comes to the location of City run Public Open Houses around issues like the OCP Review, Parks Bylaw and most recently the Zoning Bylaw re-write.  I for one like to participate when possible towards the betterment of my community but I also want accessibility in doing so.  I am assuming many in the community are like minded.

Regarding the Zoning Bylaw rewrite I have been at a few things where it was discussed so was curious when it was announced at a PNAC (Plan Nanaimo Advisory Committee) meeting that there would be some open houses for the public to view the progress to date.  What got me even more curiouser, if that is even a word, were the locations of the open houses (see below). Once again there seemed to be a lack of any venue south of Third Street and while one might expect the Ice Centre to serve most of Harewood what about the South End, Chase River as well as other points south?  Why?

What follows is a result of my inquiry. Read the rest of this entry »

A Suggestion for Better Communication

In CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF, SOCIAL ISSUES on January 24, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Ron Bolin, Jan. 24, 2011

The following message was sent this morning with a request for response.  I offer it here for NCH Blog readers with a similar request for response.  What do you think about this approach?

——————————————————-

Mayor Ruttan, Councillors and CAO Kenning:

A Suggestion for Better Communication:

In the interest of better community relations and communication, I would like to suggest your consideration for the development of a mechanism by which Staff, Council, and ultimately Citizens could be provided with coherent and complete routine information concerning complaints, requests for information and suggestions for improvements from the public.  Read the rest of this entry »

In the Matter of the Core Review

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS on January 10, 2011 at 2:13 am

Mayor Ruttan, Councillors, Staff, Citizens:

In the matter of the Core Services Review concerning which Council’s direction is sought this evening, I ask that you recommend option D, i.e. the Penticton model.  You may recall that Penticton chose this option as it was felt that it was needed to assess an increasingly difficult financial situation.  Similarly, in Nanaimo, the burden of projects and works, particularly the tens of millions of dollars recommended for additional water capacity and the huge identified needs for asset additions and maintenance in general, when added on top of the significant tax increases of the past few years puts both Nanaimo’s and its taxpayers’  fiscal future in potential jeopardy. Read the rest of this entry »

Think before you “Sign”: A Letter to the Mayor

In CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF, UNCATEGORIZED on November 7, 2010 at 12:57 pm

Jim Galloway:  Nov. 7, 2010

Mayor John Ruttan,

I’m concerned! Why?

For both Single Family and Multi Family (2 – 4 units) the proposed Bylaw would allow one Realtor sign up to 4′ X4′;

plus Read the rest of this entry »

Status of Nanaimo vs Millennium – Judge’s Arbitration Ruling

In CITY FINANCE, CITY GOVERNMENT, EMAILS TO MAYOR / COUNCILLORS, QUESTIONS TO COUNCIL, STAFF on October 26, 2010 at 2:40 pm

Ron Bolin: Dec. 1, 2010

The judges decision in the case of the City of Nanaimo vs.  Millennium Nanaimo Properties Ltd. and Suro Development Corporation is in.   Millennium’s right to go to arbitration is upheld.  This means several things for Nanaimo’s citizens: 1) higher legal costs in this matter; 2) that arguments will take place behind closed doors and the public will be kept in the dark; and 3) that the need for Council and Staff to advise citizens on whether Millennium actually has any skin in the game is now imperative.  If, as many have held, neither ever had any risk in their agreements with the City, then certainly we should not throw good money after bad.  And I must apologize for my stance that the City would not proceed to any costly action if there were no assets to be attached. Read the rest of this entry »

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