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Materials Presented by KGHM Ajax on the Proposed Ajax Mine...

At last week's council meeting, the project manager for the proposed Ajax gold a and copper mine, Jim Whittaker presented an update on the project from the mining company's perspective. Just to make his powerpoint a little more accessible, I made it into a pdf file and posted it below. You will also find here a pdf of the information booklet created by the mining company. If you want to watch video of Mr Whittaker's presentation and responses to council questions, visit this page and click on the delegations link on the right hand of the screen.

Related Links: Ajax Mine website, Stop Ajax Mine website, Environmental Assessment website

There will be public open houses on the mine proposal from 12pm to 8pm on Feb 6th and 7th at the old Kamloops Towne Lodge (now the Coast Kamloops hotel), 1250 Rogers Way.

Company Presentation on proposed Ajax Mine - ppt presented to Kamloops City Council

 

 

KGHM Ajax Info Booklet on Proposed Ajax Mine

This Week's Public Hearing Hurt My Heart...

   

A long and emotional public hearing on rezoning four pieces of city owned land to allow for affordable housing. In a nutshell, the provincial housing authority, BC Housing, is now asking communities to provide land on which affordable housing could be built. Kamloops city hall staff have been working to identify pieces of land already owned by the community for this purpose - wanting to avoid purchasing any new land.

All the land proposed is now being used as park space, or at the very least unmaintained recreation and wildlife space. One particular piece of land, on Cowan Street, has a lot of neighbourhood use and many people fought to keep the land zoned as is. Council, I feel, made the right choices in a difficult difficult process. Cowan Street keeps the park, and the three other areas get rezoned for affordable housing.

There was nothing pretty about this hearing. At its core, as many stated on the night, it pitted two groups of citizens against each other - those who supported park land and those who supported affordable housing. That's a pretty crude characterization. A lot of people support both, but the question on the night is what people wanted to do with these particular pieces of land. What's worse is that I know and respect and like many people on both sides. And, on the night, there was no real compromise to be had.

I am a huge advocate for affordable housing and I worry about the bad blood generated as we continue to work to end homelessness in Kamloops. Might it have been better if those who stood up on behalf of the plan, all of them who I respect and trust, conceded that the Cowan St plot should stay park? I am not sure, this is very much a question. I worry, though, about a reputation for balance and conciliation.

I've been at enough public hearings to know that homeowners rightly get very emotional when talking about a rezoning proposal they don't like. Some folks at this hearing got very heated and, in some cases, downright nasty. This really troubles me as well - especially the nastiness.

Solution? Well, that is a tough one. The one piece of land that got rezoned, at the top of 9th avenue at the corner of McMurdo Drive, caused a lot of community anxiety. I sincerely hope these folks will have their concerns adressed and, importantly, will over time feel good about any sacrifices they make. The vast majority concerns I heard at the public hearing, I believe can be addressed. Maybe, the future developers of the property should commit to sit down, one on one, with each person who raised concerns at the hearing. Perhaps, also, each person who expressed concern about any property decided upon should be personally invited to future forums on affordable housing.

The public hearing process in BC has a whole host of really bad problems in situations like this. Not sure what to suggest yet for potential solutions, but would like to put my head to this.

A start at a new affordable housing strategy... not just secondary suites

Today at the council workshop session, we were taken through various tools that might allow the creation of more affordable housing units in the city. This process is just starting but here are some preliminary points and thoughts:

1. The creation of affordable housing in Kamloops goes beyond simply looking at secondary suites. In fact, a more permissive secondary suite policy may not be the even part of the strategy.
2. City staff feel the most promising strategy, at this early point, may be looking at offering builders the ability to add more units if they include some more affordable units in their projects.
3. We are looking at mainly the market sector, not non profit housing. This means we need to figure a way to work closely with the building community to achieve this community goal.
4. If we pursue a secondary suite strategy, good first step might be passing along appropriate and relevant information to potential suite owners on how to create a legal suite.
5. Two prong strategy: look at both helping create more rentals, and more affordable ownership opportunities.

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....

The Unexpected Joys of Door Knocking

Yesterday (Sunday) was a breakthrough kind of day for me. I started the morning at the Sikh Temple at Ord Road. I want to thank my great friend Gurwinder Singh for coming with me and I want to thank the congregation at the Temple for allowing me the opportunity to speak with them. After, I took a round of all the home show booths at the Mt Paul Centre (formerly the KXA). I saw a bunch of people who I knew and met a few others.

Next on the agenda was to do a little doorknocking. I have been urged to do this for a while but was feeling quite nervous about it. Not only did I not know how people would recieve me, I also am quite afraid of dogs I don't know. Al McNair, whom I met at the home show, gave me a great tip to carry dog biscuits in my pocket as I walked from house to house. I took a short detour to PetCetra before hitting the street:

Bulk Doggie Biscuit Bins

Biscuits in pocket, I started walking Greystone Crescent in Aberdeen. After a few houses with no answer, a young lady finally answered a door. I introduced myself and asked if I could give her my resume and candidate card. She graciously accepted. A few more houses down, I had a jovial chat with a gentleman who was grooming his garden. A few more houses down, I met someone I knew.

My route in Aberdeen

And on it went. I found myself having a very good time. After about 90 minutes or so, I had a mocha break, and then headed to Valleyview. Very much the same experience.

Didn't even meet any ornery canines!

My route in Valleyview

In Aberdeen, I heard concerns about bringing more business to Kamloops and desires to support Council candidates who had worked raising funds in grassroots in community organizations. In Valleyview, I heard about issues like the lack of safe Valleyview bicycle/pedestrian access to downtown, council trips, better communication with the citizens, and smart livable community type development.

Towards the end, I saw a wonderful rainbow over the Dallas / Barnhartvale area.