The mock-ups provide no visual context: leading to an uninformed choice only.
An added consideration - not mentioned anywhere - is the bronze osprey in a nest on a wooden post, in the bay next to the mall's parking lot. This by local sculptor Denis Kleine, within the osprey's natural environment. The osprey is iconic in this immediate area - the heron is not! Regardless - putting the heron that close to a bird on a post we already have makes no sense!
In the mock-ups this post appears to be about 10 feet high, meaning that the remaining 15 feet or so are sunk into the ground. The Nelson Post does not mention how high its sculptor envisions the heron above-ground.
So - aside from possibly not being able to tell exactly where, people also can't tell exactly how high. How real is that!
We do know though that the ground isn't particularly solid in this area - what with sand, landfill and rocks - so it would not be a simple matter of digging a 15-foot hole and sinking the post into it. On the other hand - the higher the post's section above-ground is - the more well-engineered support it will need: considering its weight of about one ton and strong winds common here! No matter how far above or below ground - the post not tapering towards the top, plus the heron business up there, do not make for the desirable centre of gravity. Top-heavy!
Proposed locations at the Heritage Inn Point and Waterfront Amphitheatre present particular (obviously unaddressed) challenges: the first being right at the top of a steepish, narrow slope into the lake and the second at the edge of a slope, where it drops several feet into the lake or on the beach - depending on lake-levels.
Safe installation at the shown Point-location would mean extensive preparation of a very large/deep hole for a foundation-box, possibly reaching into the lake as containment-wall. Three of its sides may have to be fenced. There are lake-level and erosion issues! There is the wind-factor! The commemorative Heritage Inn plaque - seemingly giving the Point its name and being its centre - would need to be moved. A reminder: the post is about 25' high and weighs about one ton! Placing the post closer to the path would mean a completely changed appearance of the Heritage Inn Point. What's in a name?
Challenges of installing this post at the Amphitheatre slope-drop are greater yet: a very large/deep gash would need to be carved out for a foundation strong enough to support this post of - one more time! - 25' in height and one ton in weight. Ground-volatility, erosion-containment and water-issues are a certainty. Added here is that frequently strong winds would hit the post unimpeded: vibrations from the post into the foundation could eventually mean major disaster.
Of course, all this could be dealt with - but at what environmental, aesthetic and financial cost?
The three images shown in the Nelson Post - the heron just stuck into the ground - are simplistically and reprehensibly misleading: the CDC's attention possibly engaged elsewhere, while preparing for this presentation of no-choice choices for the public. With no engineers present. All this seems to be a rush-job, focused on getting a handle on the tax-receipt issue looming largish.
No matter where the post is eventually located - the City will be well-advised to figure-in a hefty all-purpose insurance policy ad infinitum.
Another angle: The City's agreement with the sculptor has him construct a decorative base he already designed - $6000 received? - which is only doable on flat ground, thus would call for considerable ground-modifications. If the post were to be erected in a way not at all suitable for this base: would the sculptor agree and still keep/get his $6000? The three mock-ups do not show his base or any kind of (necessary!) location-specific foundations.
When the Kelowna City Council came up with a minimum of $40.000 in installation costs, they seemed to know what they were talking about - they had done the math! With these locations here: Nelson can only guess! Even just a rough cost-estimate for various possible location-terrains has been deferred since the beginning, in July; and the CDC said in the Nelson Star, Nov. 16, 2011, that the most important/difficult thing now would be finding the location for the post. The rest - like money? - would be easy!
This approach has made me wonder all along how great a surprise the costs will be eventually.
Information made public about the heron has been sparse and often cheerfully vague. Particularly about money involved. No matter who hands it out for this venture - the source ultimately is the tax-payer! As the City - according to former Councillor Stacey - will definitely not pay for any of this, the public needs to be able to finally see more transparently in this matter. And regardless of how soothing the community-input idea for locations may be: this mock-up construct is superficial fun at best - but certainly not reality-based! How deeply is the community really (supposed to be) involved in this selection process - voting-response has been minimal thus far!
What if the popular location-choice presents significantly more installation problems - thus costs - than another location? But we wouldn't know, would we, if no engineering-based across-the-board estimates are done prior to the decision. What if costs of installing the post in any one of the three locations - one after the other - ultimately should prove prohibitive? Start over somewhere else: with the cart before the horse! Again! Non-existent money to burn!
Unless, of course, all this has been handled efficiently - step-by-well-reasoned-step - already, with the tax-receipt in place. And we just haven't been told!
Could it be that instead of catching a bird - we may just be laying an egg here.
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Yep. Typical Nelson stuff. Crappy planning is our way of life. Let's all sit around and let it steamroll us into the nightmares of the 21st C.
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