At a Regular Kimberley City Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, Council voted five to two in favour of passing the third reading and adoption of the Official Community Plan (OCP).
Councillors Bev Middlebrook and Albert Hoglund voted against both motions, and Council had their final discussion around the OCP.
Councillor Albert Hoglund started off the discussion saying he would be voting against passing the motion, due to several concerns with the designation of the Marysville bench lands.
“I am concerned about the designation of the bench lands as light industrial,” said Hoglund. “I spoke against that in the past and I will speak against it again…If there was a way we could take that [designation] out of the Official Community Plan, I would vote for it. With that being in there I sincerely don’t believe that is the best land use for the City of Kimberley.”
Councillor Sandra Roberts says being “aggressive” about economic development has been her mandate all along, even before she ran for Council.
“I really appreciate the input from the other evening, it’s part of my mandate to be open to a little persuasion and listen to all sides,” said Roberts. “Knowing that [the bench] is almost the only piece of property that the city has available to offer to someone who might possibly come, we should not have to say ‘sorry we don’t have any piece of land available for you at the moment’. I know there are others out there hoping to offer their land for development, but at this point in time there is nothing shovel ready and we need to get on that.”
Councillor Kent Goodwin says he was “a little disappointed” at the lack of discussion around the rest of the OCP at the Public Hearing. He added that he did hear a lot of concern about the bench lands, and he “certainly listened”.
“Yet, in my view, I think we can take this to the next step,” said Goodwin. “Designating it as light industrial gives us the option to see if we can have a development there that fits in, that meets our needs, but I’m not sure it will…I think having heard people’s concerns about the development, I would want to have very high standards for any development on that bench. Whether that will make it too expensive or too difficult for anyone to build there, I don’t know, but I’m willing to give it a try.”
Councillor Darryl Oakley spoke to the rest of the OCP, aside from the bench land, touching on the promotion of densification, and the avoidance of new subdivisions and costly infrastructure.
“Some of the things I really liked about the OCP that I think are a great fit for Kimberley are promoting the densification towards downtown; making it a very walkable community so people will be able to live in the core and walk to wherever they need to go,” said Oakley. “…The other piece that I found in support of, in terms of where the community is going, is the avoidance of new subdivisions, which would cost massive dollars in terms of maintaining infrastructure. The avoidance of all the costly infrastructure - that’s a very important thing.”
Oakley then spoke on the bench land designation, stating that he “completely understands what people are upset about”.
“The one thing about this high level plan, is that it states where the community is going to go, broadly. The development permit process is when you get to specifics as to whether something is going to be allowed or not,” Oakley said.
He added that there are no industrial companies, residential contractors or conservation groups who have bid for the land, and that it is an “extremely difficult” process to get the proper environmental certification to build on contaminated land.
“Above all, we’re not even close to having the environmental certification on that land,” Oakley said. “It could be a decade away before you can actually do anything there.”
Councillor Bev Middlebrook spoke for those who have been against the designation all along, summarizing many of the letters that were sent in to council since the process started. She touched on accessibility to trails, air quality, light pollution, the history of the area, taxes, Watkins School, and other issues that have arose.
Middlebrook said that she found pieces of the OCP to be “dysfunctional and unprincipled”, and that certain aspects kept “changing without discussion”.
“The bench is for serenity and peace, and no industrial building can match that recreational value,” said Middlebrook. She later added, “there has to be a way for seniors and people with disabilities to go for a short walk that isn’t through industrial [land]…people who’s properties are affected should be considered first and foremost.”
Councillor Nigel Kitto says it was a tough decision with regards to the bench land designation, and that everyone’s opinions have been taken into consideration.
“I would like to comment on the letters of concern, the petition, and the state of modern politics where people feel like if they don’t get their way, they are not being listened to. I want to assure everyone out there that you have been listened to, and I do believe that there’s a middle ground here to go forward on with responsible development of the bench land,” said Kitto. “An Official Community Plan is a high level planning document and some of the specifics cannot come out until we move through zoning, development permits and building permits. You have been listened to and that will be taken into account when/if we move through that process.”
He says there is a “small chance” of bringing viable industry to the community, and that the city will continue to pursue the release of the Teck-owned property on Jim Ogilvie Way.
Mayor Don McCormick was the last to speak, stating that the OCP is not about specific change, but rather, designation.
“The fears about industry, what that means, and what it’s going to look like are things that we don’t have the answer to today, because that’s not what the OCP is meant to do,” said McCormick. “The OCP provides a general designation, a direction. Then you get into the nitty gritty, the permitting, the projects that will specify what this is going to look like.”
He mentioned that Watkins school has been brought up several times, and that since it is private land, the city has no control over it. He says it is the same case for the Teck land on the east side of Jim Ogilvie Way, which the city is actively pursuing. So much so, that at the end of the voting process, Council voted in a motion to set up a committee to further investigate options for that land.
“If you take a look at these high level goals, we are operating absolutely in the best interest of not just the entire community, but all of the neighbourhoods within our community as well,” said McCormick.