The City of Kimberley continues to receive a large volume of feedback on the proposed restaurant/gas station development in Marysville. Among the 30 plus letters received for the last council meeting was a survey conducted by the Kimberley Chamber of Commerce.
In a letter to council, Chamber Manager Katherine Petersen said that the brief survey was sent out to all members, of which 28.4 per cent responded.
Of the total responses, 10.7% indicated no concerns or challenges while the remaining 89.3% responses indicated some form of concern or challenge. The most significant concern identified was growth impacting the character and identity of Kimberley (20.0%) followed by growth impacting quality of life and environment (17.3%).
Concerns/Challenges Identified (note: some of the respondents expressed more than one concern/challenge):
• Growth impacting character and identity (15)
• Growth impacting quality of life and environment (13)
• Workforce shortage (10)
• Contrary to Official Community Plan (9)
• Inequitable growth and competition (9)
• Reduction of industrial land base (7)
• Location of proposed development (4)
• No concerns/challenges (8)
When asked how the proposed Marysville development would impact their small business, responses ranged from “not at all” to “significantly”. Approximately 11% of respondents were unsure about any potential impacts. Approximately 52% of the respondents indicated either direct or indirect impacts to their business and business community.
When asked, the respondents indicated their top 3 economic development priorities (note: some respondents indicated more or less than 3 priorities) as follows:
•Attracting the kinds of businesses and jobs we want (16)
• Growing in a way that fits our community (16)
• Diversifying growth and filling gaps in service (15)
• Attracting more business to town (10)
• Attracting more visitors (9)
• Growing the number of jobs in town (8)
ª Attracting more people to move to Kimberley (7)
• Protecting against negative impacts of growth (5)
A public hearing on the zoning amendment related to this development is upcoming but no date has been set yet.
carolyn.grant@kimberleybulletin.com
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