View Street commercial development, council salaries, sustainability awards, e-cigarettes, and more—Nelson City Council October 6, 2014
By Bill Metcalfe
The following is a summary of the proceedings of the regular meeting of Nelson City Council held on October 6, 2014.
Funding for Ward St. Place upgrades
Council agreed to provide $15,000 to Nelson Cares from the affordable housing fund to contribute to current construction upgrades at Ward Street Place.
Homeless camp study application goes to housing committee
Council decided to refer to its housing committee a recent request from Pastor Jim Reimer for council to contribute to the cost of a feasibility study on a managed camp for homeless people.
Rezoning for a commercial medical clinic on View St.
Dr. Andre Kirsten is planning the Ancron Medical Centre with some retail components to be built across View St. from the emergency ward.
Council passed first reading of an amendment to the Official Community Plan and to the Zoning bylaw that would change the zoning of the property to allow this. The property is currently zoned low density residential.
There will be a public hearing on the rezoning application before it is finally decided.
Councillors Robin Cherbo and Donna Macdonald opposed the motion on the grounds that the project is a large commercial development that would not suit the residential character of the neighbourhood. The documents about the rezoning application are attached below this article.
Council and mayor paycheques
This is the third time the matter of updating the salaries for mayor and councillors has come before council, for reasons explained in a previous story in The Nelson Daily.
The independent council indemnity committee recently revisited the issue and recommended a modest salary increase for the mayor from $35,458 to $37,500, and for councillors from $15,299 to $16,300. The originally proposed change in the clothing and technology allowance from $1000 per year to $1500 for a full term was retained.
Council voted in favour of the recommendation.
Permissive tax exemption for Nelson Youth Soccer
In fall of 2014, the City entered into both a lease agreement and partnering agreement with Nelson Youth Soccer for operation of an indoor recreation field in the Civic Centre complex.
Council agreed to give the group a permissive tax exemption because it fits established criteria of being a non-profit, operating in a city-owned building and operating under a partnership agreement with the city.
Sustainability Leadership Awards
Council agreed to a proposal for sustainability leadership awards developed by Councillors Paula Kiss and Candace Batycki. There will be gold, silver, and bronze awards totalling $3750. Winners will be chosen by a jury and publicly recognized by council. Nomination criteria will be based on the city’s Path to 2040 sustainability plan. The document presented to council is attached below.
E-cigarettes banned in public buildings and workplaces
Voting on a motion brought forward by Councillor Cherbo in which he cited evidence from the World Health Organization, council agreed that current bans on smoking in public buildings and workplaces in Nelson should include e-cigarettes, and that in a forthcoming clean air policy, e-cigarettes will be considered equivalent to cigarettes.
Advocacy for co-op housing funding
Council agreed to write to the Minister Responsible for Housing and Deputy Premier, Rich Coleman, requesting that the province institute a rent supplement program for low-income housing cooperative members, to replace the federal government program that has run since 1986 and is now being phased out.
Councillor Donna Macdonald said this affects Nelson because 19 of the 31 units at the Links Housing Co-op are currently subsidized.
