 A McDonald's, a rezoning and B.C.'s best small town collide | | |  | | | One year ago, tens of thousands of people crowned Kimberley the best small town in British Columbia.
The Kootenay community successfully transitioned from a mining centre to a recreation hub, and has hit that sweet spot of being a community on the upswing without being overwhelmed by tourism and affordability concerns.
But for months, the unique town has been consumed by the most mundane of municipal maladies: whether or not to approve a McDonald’s.
“Please let’s keep the best small town in B.C. beautiful and encourage our small independents to invest in our community, not the large corporations,” wrote Lorraine Zerafa to council, one of hundreds in the town of 8,000 people who have weighed in on the proposal to rezone a plot of industrial land to commercial land (and one of several, it must be said to our bemusement, who cited the contest as a reason for keeping Kimberley McDonald’s-free).
The proposal for the rezoning would be to allow a gas station and McDonald’s on the land. It would mean Kimberley would become the 17th municipality in B.C. under 9,000 people with a McDonald’s.
And while the town already has an A&W and a Subway, it’s safe to say a Mama Burger doesn’t carry the same subtext as a Quarter Pounder with fries.“The Golden Arches will be the first thing greeting visitors coming from the south,” said the group Healthy Kimberley, noting it would be located on the main highway at the edge of town.
A majority of council approved first reading for the rezoning though, and Mayor Don McCormick is on board.
“What I’m promoting is the conversion of the industrial land to commercial,” he said at his State of the City address, according to the Kimberley Bulletin, saying the city needed to encourage investment and it wouldn't necessarily end up being a McDonald’s.
“I don’t care who’s there. I think all of those properties along the highway … should be commercial and that’s what the decision is on the table.”
Of course, the decision is more than that.
The bones of any town may be its zoning and infrastructure and bylaws, but symbols matter, particularly in a place that has a welcome sign proudly saying it has just one traffic light. And governments ignore those symbolic connections at their own peril.
A public hearing and final vote hasn’t been made yet. But no matter the decision, it’s safe to say not everyone in town will be lovin’ it. | | | Guess who's back, back again | | |  | | | Seven months ago, voters in B.C.’s two largest cities said they wanted new mayors.
But evidently, those mayors still have things they want to say.
“Many of you have shared your deep concerns about the state of Vancouver,” wrote Kennedy Stewart in a part newsletter, part donation pitch email he sent to supporters of his Forward Together Party earlier this week.
(The reasons for asking for more donations are not exactly a secret at the moment.)
Stewart then opined on a number of issues currently in the news, before hinting at legal action to change Vancouver’s at-large system for electing councillors — an issue he campaigned on in 2018 and then took no substantial action to change.
As for Surrey?
"I know I've been quiet since the election, but I'm not going to stay quiet any longer," said former mayor Doug McCallum at a press conference three weeks ago, to talk about the city’s policing controversy.
Then last week, McCallum — who has been seen at federal Conservative Party events in recent months — held another event, next to a newly opened road that was approved when he was mayor, pledging to “help people in different areas in Surrey.”
If this sort of involvement seems unusual, that’s because it is — Vancouver and Surrey mayors have typically not gotten involved in local politics after leaving the scene, and if they do, it’s after a much longer period of reflection rather than a couple of months.
One would note both Stewart and McCallum got the smaller percentage of votes for a sitting mayor that either Vancouver and Surrey had seen in modern history. Residents had evidently tired of them, and it’s unclear if their recent steps back in the political water are being received warmly.
Then again, politics is full of second acts. | | |  | | | 1. Vancouver | | | While council wasn’t in session this week, a potentially significant development did happen in the departure of Parks Board general manager Donnie Rosa, who had the difficult job of taking over leadership in the middle of the pandemic, along with explaining the park board’s decision-making over several controversial issues. Elsewhere, debate continued over giving developers money back from the empty homes tax — money which some of them explicitly requested.
Read more in the Vancouver Sun | | |  | | | 2. Lions Bay | Remember the dysfunction in one of Metro Vancouver’s smallest municipalities? A byelection two weeks ago broke the deadlock on council (with the candidate supporting the mayor going down to defeat), and the first meeting after appeared to show the provincial government — now with two consultants involved — taking a firmer hand over what seemed to be a calmer culture.
Read more in the Lions Bay Watershed | | | | | |  | | | 4. Salt Spring Island | In other island governance news, voting has begun for a new form of government on Salt Spring, called a Local Community Commission. It’s an attempt to balance tension that has existed for decades between more representation and fears it would lead to more development. Four people will be elected, and one imagines people on other islands will watch the aftermath carefully.
Read more | | | |  | | | 5. Drug use in parks | For the past few weeks, there’s been plenty of talk about municipalities looking at enacting bylaws preventing open drug use in parks, and health officials wanting to see through the current pilot that permits them. One of those communities is Campbell River, and a frank discussion was had at the council table last week, a recap of which is worth reading in the local paper. Read more in the Campbell River Mirror | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
