Kimberley City Council met for their regular meeting with a full house of spectators in attendance on Monday evening, as the meeting began with a public hearing on a proposed zoning change.
The zoning change in question is for 347 Marsden where a proponent wishes to build a car wash. Council had received seven pieces of correspondence in relation to the zoning change prior to the hearing, five against and two for.
Council would not make a decision post-hearing, Mayor Ron McRae told the crowd, but would wait for a staff report on all the input.
The plans for the proposed car wash are that vehicles would enter from the back alley and exit onto Marsden Street.
First to speak against the zoning was Jeff Radersma, who lives at 350 Banks Street, directly across the alley from the proposed car wash.
He told Council that he had no problem with a building on the empty lot, but didn’t feel a car wash was the right fit with the primarily residential neighbourhood.
“There are 11 houses on the block,” he said. “Seven with young families. The skate park is right across the road. There’s a trail along the river that is busy. Everything is residential. There are no commercial buildings nearby.”
Radmersma said that he was concerned that increased traffic would be a danger to kids going to the skate park every day, with a narrow bridge compounding the problem.
In addition, the lot is the location of the bus stop for Marysville and Lindsay Park Schools, he said.
He also said that his wife operated a licensed day care in their home and they were concerned that increased traffic in the back alley would cause problems with parents dropping off their children.
“My wife leaves every day with seven children and heads out the back alley and down the trail,” he said.
Other concerns included whether the sewer water infrastructure could handle the additional demand, noise and the possibility of contaminants getting into Mark Creek.
Speaking for the proponents was Christy Rossi who said she lives in the neighbourhood as well. She said that the doors to the car wash would be closed, reducing noise; that there would be hours of operation; that runoff goes into the sewer system, not the creek and that the day care clients should be able to pick up and drop off at the front door.
She also said that she would talk to the school board about a possible relocation of the bus stop.