Kimberley Council postpones vote on crossing and petrol station regulations

In January last year, Kimberley City Council directed staff to begin community engagement on the potential ban on future rideshares and petrol stations. The engagement took the form of consultation with Interior Health’s Healthy Communities Program, Kimberley’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, and an online survey to the public through the engagement website kimberley.ca.

The planning department recommended that the council instruct staff to prepare a rezoning and policy to prohibit new access services, while allowing existing journeys to continue as non-compliant until a change to other uses takes place. Moreover, the council directed staff to prepare zoning changes and policies aimed at prohibiting new gas station services while allowing existing gas stations to continue to operate as non-conforming until they are converted to other uses.

Despite this recommendation, at its regular meeting on May 27, 2024, the board decided to defer communicating any further policy direction to staff until they have had a chance to further discuss and reach some consensus on what the policy should look like.

The planning report to the council included all comments received. When it comes to crossings, planning manager Troy Pollock noted that there is an almost equal divide between those who would prefer to ban crossings in the future and those who would prefer to establish regulations.

And here the City Council had some doubts. Most councilors agreed that banning or prohibiting something was not their first instinct.

“I have a problem with banning or banning anything completely,” said Coun. Jason McBain, adding that he leans towards regulation.

Mayor Don McCormick also noted that while the report says a lot about the walkability of the Kimberley, it makes little mention of the fact that almost all tourist traffic in the Kimberley is on rubber tires.

“We need this movement,” he said. “It’s an issue we need to think about.”

He added that many people went to Cranbrook to buy things not available in Kimberley, and all that return travel had an impact on the environment, not to mention spending money in Cranbrook rather than Kimberley.

He stated that, in his opinion, numerous discussions in the Council were still needed.

County Clerk Sandra Roberts agreed. She said the council would take a basket full of ideas and throw it at employees and say “make a bylaw.”

“We need to reach a closer consensus on what these regulations will look like,” she said.

County Commissioner Kevin Dunnebacke said economic growth and prohibition cannot be used in the same sentence.

“We need to sit down and talk,” McCormick said, and suggested delaying the council vote until that conversation can occur, asking staff to call a special meeting at an appropriate time.

County Clerk Woody McGuire objected to this statement, believing that returning staff at the start of the regulations would advise more information because he was unsure what the regulations would look like.

McCormick countered that it doesn’t make sense to ask staff to start working on the bylaw without a clear idea of ​​what the board wants.

Council voted to convene a special meeting as soon as possible given that the planning report identified a rezoning request for a gas station, car wash and drive-thru restaurant in April 2024 and concluded that planning should be deferred until the policy is introduced.

READ: Kimberley Council will seek public feedback on journeys and petrol station policy

READ: City of Kimberley collects views on drive through policy.