Had an opportunity to watch the "game tape" of the Feb 16th council meeting. An interesting issue came up at the meeting. In my opinion, it showcases important and different opinions among Council members.
Owners of a new commercial building on Summit Drive, right beside Firehall #1, have applied to erect a free standing side. In order to get the sign they want, they have asked city hall if they could dip just over the property line and erect the sign on firehall land. The city planning department has agreed to this, providing that the building owners agree to landscape and maintain the area around the sign. The owners did not include such a sign in their initial plans.
The below video clocks in at about 5min and 15 seconds and showcases the responses of two Councillors - Denis Walsh and John O'Fee, as well as the views of Mayor Peter Milobar. As I was listening to the Mayor's comments in particular, I started to think a bit differently than he does about potential precedent. Peter said that if people driving by the sign don't realize it sits on city property, than he doesn't think precedent setting will be much of an issue. I would think that the precedent issue arises more if potential developers learn about this case. I also wonder if city staff will feel they have more of a green light to look at and recommend similar sign proposals. However, maybe a precedent is a good thing to set here.
Council voted to send the proposal for public comment by a vote of 7 - 2.
Well A & T did give the Mayor $5,000 for the election. Guess that's the going rate for Milobar's public obfuscation.
(http://www.kamloops.ca/legislativeservices/pdfs/08-expenses/milobar.pdf)
As for O'fee's comments re: Farmer Market.
One supplies a public good and the other does not, I'll let you guess which one.
Posted by: Quimby | March 01, 2010 at 08:47 PM
Hi Quimby - I really don't think the Mayor can be bought in the way you suggest.
Posted by: Arjun Singh | March 02, 2010 at 10:06 AM