As a resident who lives within 60 metres of the proposed development at Seventh St. and Radio Ave., I received a letter from City Hall. Applications had to be made for four variances to extend a commercial enterprise and to construct a new building.
This would have two lower floors with commercial and storage units and two upper floors with six rental units in total. The letter instructed me to send any comments or concerns to City Hall, which I did.
I attended the council meeting on May 1 that dealt with this proposal. The council voted to deal with the four variance applications in one package. There were a few comments about the parking and landscaping.
Then the four variances were approved. It took only a couple of minutes. The mayor did mention that she had received a package of letters from residents in the area. She did not say whether these had been shared with the councillors.
Not one of our many concerns were brought up, let alone discussed. Therefore I assume that the mayor either did not share our concerns or that not one councillor cares about these.
I know of 12 residents who submitted concerns and there were probably others. This development will have considerable impact on the residents of Radio Ave., Amber Bay and the seniors home. These are a few of our concerns:
1. Parking is already tight. With extra commercial vehicles, parking for visitors would be impossible.
2. How will emergency vehicles get through these congested streets?
3. Six housing units are a drop in the ocean. The entire lot could be use for affordable housing and make a real difference to Nelson.
4. Many of us are retirees who chose to leave commercial areas and live in this beautiful, quiet, residential area by the lake.
Asking for our comments and concerns looks like tokenism to me because none of these was discussed in council. I moved to Nelson believing it was a people-centred, democratic city. This development of Lot 5, District Lot 97 is very important to the many tax-paying residents who live in this area.
Spending just a few minutes on this issue without any input from residents looks like rubber-stamping for the benefit of the business community.
Belinda Puttnam
Nelson