The application by a local motel to build a seven-site RV campground within the city came before council a second time on April 9 and was rejected by a 4-2 vote.
Woody Kim, owner of the Villa Motel at 655 Highway 3A, wanted to build the campground on a part of his property where a building was destroyed by fire in 2019.
Nelson’s current zoning bylaw does not allow that use of the site, so Kim applied to council for a re-zoning of his property. At its March 5 meeting, council asked its planning staff to draw up a rezoning bylaw that, if approved by council, would take the matter to a public hearing to hear from the owner, the neighbours and other interested residents.
But council did not approve it.
At the March 5 and April 9 meetings, city planners gave the following reasons why they thought the Villa Motel, located just across the bridge from the city, should not be re-zoned to allow the campground:
• RV campers and a concrete retaining wall will detract from the aesthetic and visual appeal of the gateway to the city.
• The narrow site, steep exit grades, steep drive-though lanes, and tight turning radius might make the site difficult to maneuver.
• RVs are not appropriate for long-term housing in the winter, and the planners worry that this might occur.
• Rural rather than urban settings are more suitable for campgrounds. (The city owns and operates a campground within city limits.)
Owner’s response
In his initial application and in a follow-up letter written since the March 5 council meeting, Kim stated that:
• The retaining wall will not be unsightly because he has plans to make its appearance greener than at present.
• Only two of the planned seven RV sites will be visible from the highway.
• The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) has deemed the turning radius safe, as has a tour bus driver who testified in a letter that he has parked at the Villa Motel many times.
• The owner has reconfigured the layout to remove drive-through lanes and to assign vehicles of specific sizes to specific sites.
• Long-term stays will not be allowed, and the campground would be closed from November to March.
If council had decided to proceed with the rezoning process, it would have involved a change to the Official Community Plan (OCP), which outlines the allowed land uses in various parts of the city.
Logtenberg, Tait and Woodward
Councillor Rik Logtenberg, speaking against the rezoning application, said that the purpose of the OCP is to enable “the highest and best use of that land, and you want to do an amendment to achieve the highest and best use, and I don’t think this qualifies … There are so many other things I can imagine that could be accomplished on this land.”
He said a change to the OCP affects “more than the property owner. It affects the neighbourhood and every driver passing by the motel, then it really needs to meet a high bar to justify it.”
Councillor Kate Tait said the decision will be precedent-setting and she added that letters received by council in support of Kim calling him “well-respected and a good and tidy neighbour” should not be considered because council should not make a decision based on someone’s reputation but on suitable land use.
Tait said she has looked at a number of RV campsites in the region, all of which were separated from highways by greenery or buildings in park-like settings with noise barriers and privacy, and decided that the Villa proposal “is not recreational camping.”
She noted that Kim in various documents had given seemingly contradictory statements about how long guests would be allowed to stay, and she expressed concern that council would set a precedent by seeming to equate RV living with permanent apartments.
Pineiro and Payne
Speaking in favour of accepting the application and moving to a public hearing, Councillor Jesse Pineiro said he was “a little bit confused” about the resistance to the proposal and that the applicant has met a lot of the planners’ concerns, none of which “seem that glaring.”
He said buses of sports teams are able to navigate the entrance to the Villa. As for the risk of it turning into long-term housing, Pineiro pointed out that the owner has said this will not happen.
As for the aesthetic appeal as the gateway to the city, Pineiro said there are three such gateways now, and “at least one of them is a used car lot and an abandoned house with ‘crack shack’ painted on the side of it. That does not seem to affect tourism that much.”
Councillor Leslie Payne said entering a town that has an RV campground at the entrance “does not say to me this is a bad place to go, or unattractive” and she characterized such an entrance as the opposite of the gentrification that Nelson is often criticized for.
As for the vehicle access issues, she said, “If MOTI said the turning radius is OK, then that’s OK with me.”
She noted that the owner has said there would be no long-term housing, but even if there were, she said, this would not be a bad thing because it might meet a need. She explained that she once lived for months with four children in an RV out of necessity.
Payne agreed with Pineiro that a public hearing would be useful.
“We have so many questions that having the community weigh in would not be a bad thing,” she said.
Logtenberg, Woodward, Tait and Mayor Janice Morrison voted to reject Kim’s application. Pineiro and Payne voted to accept it, which would have taken the issue to a public hearing. Councillor Keith Page was absent from the meeting.
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• Nelson council ponders application to build RV campsite within city