The Issues

On August 23, 2008 the Nanaimo Daily News attempted to shed light on whether political campaign contributions have influenced some Nanaimo City Councillors’ decisions.

We shall never know if Councillors were influenced in their decision making by donations from any particular source. It would be best if public officials never found themselves in a position where doubt is placed in the minds of the electorate.

Particularly troublesome though are contributions from sources which are heavily dependent upon the land-use and zoning decisions that are made at City Hall, since these types of deliberations constitute a large part of Councillors’ work.

Councillors deal with a myriad of issues and the possibilities for conflict are many. While it is not entirely fair to single out the development, construction and related industries, they were the main cause for concern in the Daily News article as they collectively contributed more funds than any other segment in our community to the campaigns of all but two Councillors.

I believe these to be valid reasons for my decision not to accept corporate contributions and to instead rely on donations from individuals like yourself during the recent campaign.

Urban sprawl, as defined by Wikipedia is as follows: “urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading of a city and its suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area”.

I am in favour of a viable public transportation system and a vibrant downtown Nanaimo. If we allow urban sprawl to continue our transportation system will not improve and our downtown revitalization will fail.

Despite attempts by the City of Nanaimo’s Planning department and one City Councillor to give that definition a make-over, the proposed Cable Bay Lands project is synonymous to me with urban sprawl and that remains my number one reason for opposing this development.

We know that Nanaimo is spending millions of dollars on the revitalization of our downtown, an area which will require roughly 8000 additional residents to live in or close to that downtown core in order to make it work, so why would we want 6000 folks to locate somewhere else?

A viable public transportation system requires a certain density to support it and if we are ever to reach that needed densification, we must refrain from permitting “Cable Bays” or similar developments.

In fact, by the city’s own numbers, as zoned today, Nanaimo has enough developable land to accommodate an additional 35,000 citizens, something which would see us through to 2031.

Young families with children who recently signed Elector Response Forms in opposition to Cable Bay are worried about the loss of green space and agricultural land.

The Downtown Merchants Association is against urban sprawl and its consequences, so is The Old City Quarter Association, so is Frank D’Ambrosio who authored Nanaimo’s recent Downtown Urban Design Plan and Guidelines and so am I.

WHERE IS THE HOTEL?

Now that the Conference Center complex is almost complete we must work toward making it successful. A key to its success will be the building of a suitable hotel. Citizens of Nanaimo are to be commended for the patience they have shown concerning the hotel component of the Port of Nanaimo Centre.

Citizens will remember that the agreement which Mayor Korpan signed with Triarc International of Connecticut in the summer of 2004, called for a hotel to be located on top of the Conference Centre as an integral part of the complex.

When it became apparent that this was not possible due to the location of the project ( the Conference Center sits on what was once a tidal inlet) land on Gordon Street was then “sold” to the developer for $10.00 in order to provide a place for the hotel to be built.

Now four years later, with two major amendments to the hotel portion of the agreement under our belts, there still is no sign that hotel construction is even close to beginning; in fact, footings for the foundation should have been poured by the end of last May. Failure by Millennium to meet this deadline should have put the developer in breach of their contract with the City of Nanaimo. No design plans have been submitted to the City, nor has a development permit been applied for.

Councillor Manhas has told us not to worry. A few months ago Manhas was quoted as saying that Millenium/Suro were forging ahead with a management company to run the hotel, a few days ago it was down to a choice between two management companies. As Philip Wolf in his Daily News column of September 18, 2008 said “What’s taking so long?”

When a Port of Nanaimo Center sales person, at the opening of the complex, was asked about hotel accommodations for conference center users she said “arrangements are being made to shuttle them to Parksville hotels for large conventions”.

How can we now work towards making the Port of Nanaimo Center a successful enterprise without a suitable hotel and with this unprofessional approach to business?

This huge investment by Nanaimo taxpayers must be given every opportunity to succeed. Where is the hotel?