When I started writing this I was thinking about the new ferry shelter and the relocation of the recycling depot but then I heard about the gas station and I really have to deal with it before sharing with you all of the good news stories.
It seems that all of that fast action by Municipal Hall to get a new location for the gas station hasn’t really been that fast after all. It has now been decided that the industrially zoned land with a gas pump on it, which sells fuel to the buses and various other privileged customers has to be rezoned before Bowen Fuels can hook up their pump and start selling gas. Our lack of a gas station apparently not only does not constitute an emergency, it doesn’t even rate expedited processing.
Notice that the gas station was closing was given in mid April. The station closed at the end of April. In early May the mayor instructed staff to move immediately to resolve the problem. At the end of May a proposal call went out. It closed at the end of June. As expected, Bowen Fuels submitted the only proposals. However, it took until the end of July for the Municipality to put together an agreement with them. Then we were told that the proposed contract was submitted to the Municipal lawyer who advised that somebody could challenge the zoning. So as of July 31 a rezoning process has been started and relevant information forwarded to outside agencies for review. No contract can be signed with Bowen Fuels until after the rezoning is completed. Then they need another four to six weeks to prepare the site get set up. By then it will probably be Christmas and we have no assurance that Bowen Fuels will even still be in business. Their retail operation will have been shut down for seven or eight months by then. So, could the Municipality have declared an emergency when the station first shut down and allowed for a temporary facility in their works yard? I am told that they could have. Could they have gone ahead with a contract to allow the gas station to open up under the existing zoning. I am told that they could have. If the property needed to be rezoned, could the process have been started in April? Yes.
We are witnessing a change in the culture of our community. A movement away from sustainability and towards being a North Shore suburb. This change is not occurring through choice nor are we being swept along by events beyond our control. Possibly you should talk to your members of council and find out if anybody is willing to step up and give this problem the attention it deserves. Of course they won’t be able to do anything until September. They don’t meet during August. Now, back to the warm and fuzzy.First of all we have a new ferry shelter coming. It will be built on the south dock, 60 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet high (so that the ambulance can still get through to the water taxi). BC Ferries is willing to kick in $25,000 so David Wrinch did a bit of a plan and submitted it to the Municipal Design Panel. They asked that his trusses be replaced with heavy post and beam construction and proposed that the windows be made round to look like portholes. It will be amusing to see where form, function and budget ultimately meet.Our highways department just put in some new sidewalks in Snug Cove. They used asphalt. Function and budget definitely beat out form on this one.Another construction project soon to break ground is the new recycling depot. It will be across the street from the current location and will include the giant box crusher that eliminates ninety percent of the volunteer labour. Things will be rearranged for greater efficiency with bigger containers and some new services such as recycling old computers and all of those fancy new types of batteries that have emerged in recent years.
This brings us to the old depot site. There will be a huge concrete slab left behind. This would make an ideal location for a thrift store. Thrift stores are great places, not only because they allow for continuous recycling in a consumer mad world but because they are great community builders and a fantastic source of revenue for non-profit groups. The theory is that you would have different departments. Family Place would handle infant clothing, the pre-school mothers would have toys, the friends of the library would take care of used books, etc. I have no idea who would put together an undertaking of this magnitude but I like to propose it every chance I get.
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