Shut-up/Put-up!

Regular Council Meeting, 7 Apr. 2014

Council's look at a rezoning-application to allow for construction of condo clusters at 2000 Choquette Ave - the golf course - follows very passionate presentations by area-residents against the development.
Their issues include roads/traffic; additional cars/parking; lack of sidewalks; safety of children at this time able to play in a basically open setting; loss of quality of life-as-is-now for which most came to live here.

Patrick Davis - developer - presents his project, with support from the golf-club guy and a realtor: both smelling money-money-money! You build it - they'll come! Simple!

At some point Mayor Dooley announces needing to bring this meeting to an end shortly: he will do so by 3 times banging his gavel. He does a bit later, and that should be that - but THEN the developer says he wants to present some clarifications based on the residents' issues. Not having asked for this before or when the mayor announces the imminent end of the meeting.

Receiving permission from the mayor without hesitation, Davis aims for advantage in a last-ditch effort to soothe - not lessening the apprehension of those possibly affected within his plans.

And when they want to respond: they are peremptorily choked-off by the mayor with the meeting has been officially closed. For them - not the developer. How Harper! And they become incensed again, now over this preferential treatment afforded the developer, what with the mayor's blatant judgement-call denying them democratic process.

They leave - you can't fight city hall! - and councillors get down to voicing their deeply-explored opinions on the development's merits.

Councillor Cherbo raises a crucial issue: The traffic-impact study run for/by the developer in December at Council's request. Not the December part. Which to him - as former and experienced highway man - is a totally inappropriate time for such a study. The rest of Council - no highway men they - see no problem with the report - period. And agree with its predictable gist of no significant negative impact expected from the development. Of course they wouldn't - having varianced and rezoned enthusiastically from Kutenai Landing condos over Nelson Commons condos to Nelson Landing condos for days.
I can see what may be Cherbo's point - while not even a driver. In that usually very densely green area - but in December with far less vegetation on the ground and no leaves on underbrush and many trees: clearly even awkward stretches of roads and intersections then are visually far easier to maneuver.

Councillor Kozak raises another point, also finding no traction: With prices of the development's condos supposedly in the 200 thousands (they're all uniform and no-frills and teeny-weeny one-size-fits-all?) there's the realtor-come-on: young-family/starter-home talk. Kozak wonders how many people have even that kind of money. I wonder which young family - potentially/eventually growing - would put down that kind of money on a place they'll outgrow by tomorrow.

Rezoning is approved.

With Nelson Commons' go-ahead dodgier by the day; Nelson Landing at whatever presell-to-whom? stage and now this: where do/will all the buyers come from suddenly and all at once? The basically weak market is becoming more and more diluted - Council trilling every time won't this be great for Nelson we need the tax-revenue!

What tax-revenue? And what is the status of the so sloppily handled Kutenai Landing anyway? What did Council learn from that? And what will happen with all the rezoning and variancing if/when these projects don't get off the ground as planned and inevitably are diddled with?

Back to Start for the City and do not collect 200 - in fact - the not-in-on-this taxpayer paying and paying again and again for City Hall's efforts in these processes?

Rhetorical questions.





Images: Patrick Caulfield