The first Nanaimo Council meeting of September is coming up on Monday —an evening jam packed with political intrigue.  Some hot topics include:

• selling City owned land at 2103 Bowen Road for $350,000
• expanding/moving recycling depot to 2491 Kenworth Road
• 3240 Fieldstone Way 3 multi-unit residential development
• 4-lot subdivision at 314 Ninth Street
• 30-lot subdivision at 897 Howard Avenue
• 4-lot subdivision at Royal Pacific Way

Rezoning applications:

• 2020 Estevan Road to Mixed-Use Corridor
• 5030 Hammond Bay Road to Small-lot development
• 5616 Big Bear Ridge to Duplex-lot development

Sale of City owned land on Bowen Road

At the May 16, 2016 meeting, Council provided direction to put a vacant City-owned property located at 2103 Bowen Road up for sale. The property is located on the corner of Meredith Road and Bowen Road.

Currently, this 0.191 hectare (0.471 acre) property is vacant and is zoned COR1 (Commercial Corridor Zone). It could  support a multi-family development or a cycling/transit hub.

Is the City really considering selling 2103 Bowen Road for $350,000?  According to BC Assessment the land value is $505,000; in 2015 it was valued at $449,000.

Why would the City give away such a valuable piece of land? Could this site be used as a  transit hub? How will people get around with no parking anywhere? The answer should be to plan for better transit hubs.

30-lot subdivision 897 Howard Avenue

Good-bye to the big lots and green trees of the Harewood neighbourhood. A 30-lot subdivision is planned for 897 Howard Avenue.

Expanding recycling depot

The recycling exchange on Kenworth Road could be expanding or moving to the lot north at 2491 Kenworth Road. Below are some plans for how the new layout would look. Note the stalls are not angled as to allow for more parking.

Why can’t the City pick all the recycling up at the curb? There are an estimated 500 a trips a day made to this recycling centre by Nanaimo residents.

3240 Fieldstone Way 3 multi-unit residential development

In the Rock City Road area there are plans for three multi-unit residential developments at 3240 Fieldstone Way with some zoning requests.

 4-lot subdivision at Royal Pacific Way

Above Lost Lake Road there are plans for four new lots at the end of Royal Pacific Way. It appears there will be many more lots added by the time this development is finished.

4-lot subdivision at 314 Ninth Street

Every day the Harewood neighbourhood is changing. Four new houses are planned to replace one house at 314 Ninth Street.

Notice of Motions

Councillor Armstrong will ask council to vote on a motion for a report detailing accessibility for all City owned and operated facilities. This could be done with an efficient  GIS system.

Councillor Brennan will ask Council to vote on a motion to ask the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to consider changing the term of office for local governments back to three years rather than the current four year terms. Many small communities are finding the four year terms too long and costly as people have to move on and new people have to be elected.

UBCM is set to meet on September 25-29 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The theme is “Roots and Results.” How many on Nanaimo council will be attending? What will they learn?  Some serious problems are being faced by communities on the front lines such as homelessness, the opioid crisis and wildfires.

CAO Petition

A 7,212 signature petition has been submitted to Council which calls for an apology from Mayor McKay and asks that the Mayor resign because of the “violence the CAO Ms. Samra endured at City Hall”. The petition states that the CAO is an indigenous woman from Alberta.

Strange times at Nanaimo City Hall—people couldn’t wait to get rid of the last two CAOs and now once again the CAO appears to be on the way out.  What is the real story in all this mess?

Letter from Kidney Foundation

Only 23% of BC residents have registered their wishes to be organ donors. A UBCM resolution was passed to bring more awareness to organ donation. (A simple solution would be to have all residents automatically designated as organ donors and if you don’t want to donate your organs then you have to register).