Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Plastic Bag Recycling and Reusable Bag Purchase in Grocery Stores...

Greg Droder, a long time reader, prompted me a long time on this one.

Since a ban on plastic bags dosen't soon look to be in the cards for Kamloops, just a reminder that some local grocery stores offer to recycle plastic bags (Safeway, for one). Also, many many stores now sell reusable bags. Thats good for the stores as well because they now have got their logo on  hopefully often used bags, and perhaps put a small markup on their sale.

Live from City Council Chambers...

I am finally trying the wireless network in the council chamber. Peter Milobar is now asking a great question around how to make the plan easier for good developers to implement. We are discussing the draft north shore plan document.  We  are looking at ways to incentivize development, but also set some strong standards that hopefully make for good development.

Attending the Northern Voice blogging conference....

For the past 4 years, since its inception, I have had the honour of spending a February weekend with some really interesting people at the Northern Voice blogging conference in Vancouver. I will be speaking at the conference this year - about my experiences blogging here, as an elected member of city council.  I feel like this site has helped me be a better representative, allowed me to more transparent and accountable to folks. Also, people have shared with me a lot of their knowledge here, which has helped me make better decisions I feel. My hope, always and going forward, is to be of some help in a larger movement to change the dominant paradigm in government from conflict to conversation.

Northern Voice is simply one of the best get togethers around.

Interesting Social Planning Council Meeting Last Night...

School trustee Dick Dickens came to the city social planning council meeting last night and sparked a long and interesting discussion on our community's successes, failures, opportunities, and challenges in helping people who are homeless. I remain optimistic that this is an extraordinarily hopeful time, even as I weekly encounter gaps in the system that tear at my heart. There are a lot of good things coming I think.

Council Meeting February 19th 2008 - Recap

The official minutes for this meeting.

My summary:

Your council approved public hearings for proposals concerning plans for a 50 lot subdivision at the northern end of Saddleback Drive in Bachelor Heights, plans for a social housing project managed by the Kamloops Native Housing Society at 1414 Summit Drive.

A development permit was authorized for a 19 family single lot subdivision at 8855 Dallas Drive (Campbell Creek Phase 4). Notices of intent were authorized to be sent to the neighbors of 2532  Glenview Ave (proposed variance of regulations to allow a lot subdivision) and to the neighbors of 880 Serle Rd (proposed variance of regulations to allow creation of pandhandle lot).

Carla Stewart, one of our city planners, presented on the Kamloops Heritage Register, a formal list of historically significant properties within our community. David Trawin, director of the development services and engineering department, presented his department's 2007 annual report (pdf file, requires adobe reader to view).

Council amended the Tranquille lands comprehensive land use proposal to include a required minimums for the phasing of units and a minimum amount of commercial space. 

March 2008 was proclaimed "Community Social Services Awareness Month". March 3rd to 8th 2008 was proclaimed "BC Cowboy Heritage Week". February 18th to 25th was proclaimed "Scout / Guide Week". February 25th to 28th was proclaimed TRU "WolfPack Week"

Gary Harvey, from the BCGEU, requested council  adopt a resolution regarding BC highway maintenance standards. Council provided a broad resolution in this spirit. In response to a presentation from Shianne Carswell, from the juvenile diabetes research foundation, council approved day long transit passes for the foundation's April 12th  Amazing Race fundraiser.

Mayor Lake commented briefly on strategies and impacts arising from the closure of the Weyehaeuser sawmill.

Council Meeting Jan 22nd 2008 - Recap

As mentioned in the past, every once in a while, your council gets the chance to close a surplus piece of road - ooh the power! This meeting, we closed a piece adjacent to Lamar Rd in Barnhartvale.

An in camera decision to require a death certificate for cemetery memorials for people not actually interred in the cemetery was brought out into public.  Council then authorized a public hearing on a rezoning application to allow for up to 22 dwellings on vacant lots on or near Stansfield Rd in Westsyde.

In an effort to secure more RCMP officers in Kamloops, Council agreed to authorize an increase in funded positions from 120 to 124.

David Duckworth, city public works director, presented the proposed new solid waste and recyclables bylaw.  This new bylaw incorporates regulation fees for the new curbside recycling program, which will commence in March 2008.  Council okayed the bylaw.

The use of outdoor wood fire boilers (none presently known to exist in Kamloops) was banned. And, the terms of reference and committee structure for the community's integrated community sustainability plan were approved.

A new snow clearing bylaw was brought in to mandate faster sidewalk snow and ice removal  by businesses and homeowers - from a seven day grace period to a max three day grace period. Local taxi companies were asked to respond in 30 days to proposed new municipal regulations of their operations. These proposed regulations generally concern safety, courtesy, and environmental concerns.

An updated community wildfire plan was presented for information.

Council welcomed delegations from the Kamloops Central BIA, Save our Publlic Waterfront, and from the TRU Eco Club sustainable fashion show committee. Mayor Lake gave a talk and slideshow on his trip to Tangalle, Sri Lanka.

I put forward a notice of motion proposing Council set up a working group to look at secondary suites in the community, with  a view to creating more rental accommodation.

My Top 3 Priorities for 2008...

I committed here to communicate my top 3 priorities in 2008 as one of your representatives on Kamloops City Council. Its just a bit past mid February, so this post is a little late in coming.

I hesitated a bit to write about "top" priorities, because there are really so many important things we touch on council. I try to spend time on many things, because that is what I feel I am paid to do and because I really enjoy learning about and working on a such a diverse range of issues.

But, there are a few issues where I think I should be spending a little more energy over the next months. These are issues where I feel I have a bit of knowledge because of the committees to which I have been appointed to by the Mayor (capital M). These are also issues which I consider quite fundamental to the overall health of the community. So, without further preface and in no particular order:

- Helping the Business Community Engage in Social Issues in Our Community: That's a long title, but its an important issue. If we are really going to house the homeless, or even help people who are housed but not to their satisfaction, we are going to have find more ways of bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the table. Business and professional people want to help on the root cause social issues because they know it is the right thing to do from almost any standpoint - moral, financial, for community wellness.

- Helping the Whole Community Embrace the Opportunities Presented by Climate Change:   I believe global climate change is the defining issue of this century. Most of us agree that, if we don't change a lot of our ways, we are in serious, serious trouble. This will be challenging, no doubt about it. But, what I prefer to focus on is the opportunities. There are huge opportunities in going towards a more sustainable, green house gas free Kamloops.

- Better Tapping into the Wisdom of Kamloops: How do we come to the best decisions for our community? How do we get real buy in on often very complex and perhaps difficult issues? There are a lot of people in our community who don't really engage in local issues. We need more people's thoughts, their engagement, and we need to do it in ways that best suit their lifestyles. Only then do the elected folks feel truly empowered to do the work we need to do, in the best interests of the community. A great past example of "tapping into community wisdom" was the Kamtalk forum, hosted several years ago by former Mayor Mel Rothenburger.

New Abderdeen Development - Beautiful Dream or Tragic Nightmare?

Dramatic title, hey? Here is hopefully a balanced overview:

The draft Aberdeen plan document projects up to 10 000 new people by 2036, most of them living upslope from the already developed areas. Many folks say that we need new residential lots to accommodate Kamloops' population growth.  Aberdeen is a very desirable area of town in which to live and the developers who own the upslope land have had a reasonable expectation that they would be able to build neighborhoods on that land one day.

The big questions about the proposed plan revolve around its environmental responsibility. In a nutshell, are the proposed developments going to be nasty examples of sprawl? We will certainly be expanding the footprint of habitation in our community, going even higher up the southern face of our valley. Are there creative ways we can reduce the number of car trips? Will we be creating an area that supports grocery stores and transit close by?  In a province where more than 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, this is something we need to consider. The province has already told us they will mandate local governments to incorporate greenhouse gas reduction strategies in community planning.   

The other issue is, of course, groundwater. Will new development help or hinder slope stability?

All things to consider....

My Wakefest Position:

In summary from our discussion at today's council meeting:
- this event last year attracted enough hooliganism to cause serious issues in Kelowna

- I have nothing against the organizers of the event, I just think this particular event has become troublesome

- I don't want to risk having the same serious issues happening in Kamloops, especially since there is a whole host of events we can choose from at this time, given our very good reputation as a host community

-  and given we seem to have events already established that have broad appeal and which don't come with problems attached.

- we need to balance event attraction with possible impacts

Council Meeting Feb 12th 2008 - Recap

Your council closed a portion of surplus road adjacent to 4000 Westyde Rd and legalized an outdoor storage area at Lake Country RV on 8th Street by allowing the storage area to be sited right to the property line (abuts an alley).

We again discussed the design of the Kamloops Spirit Square Project, this time approving the final concept design.

Notice was sent to the neighbors of a residence on Parkhill drive for comment on a proposed second kitchen for family.

Safety improvements to the crosswalk at 7th Ave and Seymour St were approved. These include extending the reach of the light pole and removing some of the branches from a tree on the north side to improve visibility of the crosswalk.

Council said yes to the continuation of the student transit pass pack, a new freedom of information bylaw, a less restrictive second hand store and pawnshop bylaw, and the creation of new parcel tax bylaws for the Rose Hill and Yates Rd sewer projects.

Regarding the potential hosting of Wakefest in Kamloops, council asked staff to inform the event organizers to submit a comprehensive proposal if they are interested in Kamloops as a venue.

March 2008 was proclaimed as "Kidney Month" in Kamloops.

The Mayor asked the community to nominate people for "community distinguished service awards". Deadline is March 28th.