Category Archives: Operations

Are we prepared?

Everyone uses the term. From former Presidents at the Democratic National Convention, to property developers ranting at City Council about the Mayors activities, “Trickle Down” seems to be the catch phrase of the day.

The question is, are we prepared for the trickle down that is coming, because that trickle will soon become a torrent.

Consider this; Seymour Pacific, Berwick Retirement Community, Zeller’s to Target renovation and now the Super Valu to Winners renovation, all happening downtown over the next 18 to 24 months. None of these are small projects and they are happening in high traffic areas. They will add a hundred or more bodies (and almost as many vehicles) into an already fairly congested area, but that’s a good thing, as those same workers will use local eateries and coffee shops on a daily basis, not mention a wide variety of other downtown stores, due to their location. Are the restaurants and coffee shops ready for business to double, perhaps even triple, during their busiest times? Are local businesses preparing to attract all those people coming to work here on these projects? More importantly, who is leading this effort to prepare our community of the coming boom times?

<crickets>

OK. So those are four projects, just in the downtown. Now, let’s add the hospital, John Hart Dam, Merecorft / Dogwood apartments, the Mariners Square oil change building, the new Women’s shelter, a potential new homeless shelter, regular new housing development and renovation projects, the potential of new development at the former Catalyst site and, if my sources are correct, even more plans for the downtown in both renovations and new development. All local businesses will benefit from everything oriented around this building boom, from construction suppliers to hospitality providers. The “trickle down” will be significant. Some businesses will have to hire more people. Some will have to expand services. Some will have to order more product to meet demands, while others will have to increase production to meet those orders. Who is leading the charge to make sure that Campbell River is prepared for the coming supply and demand onslaught?

<more crickets>

Truth is, unless I have been in a coma and missed it, the only word I have heard from anyone about “being prepared” was from the Mayor, when he suggested that staff look into the possibility of changing some of the restrictions around rental suites, in order for citizens to open their doors to the flood of construction workers that are to come.

Nothing from Rivercorp, cataloging and connectinig the services and needs of those businesses that are bringing ECONOMIC prosperity to our community. Nothing from the Chamber of Commerce trumpeting their membership and creating networking sessions with suppliers and service providers (unless you include their pay-per-use business portal). Nothing from City communications promoting what the community has to offer, other than the same stagnant navigation nightmare of a Website and a slightly more active Facebook page.

To be honest, I have no idea who is supposed to play Head Coach and get the team ready for this Big Game, but I would hope that the coaches we do have would step up and make sure that the team is at least THINKING about the game ahead. That helps make a winning team.

Turning it around.

Welcome to the 21st Century. We do things differently here.

In my previous rant, I went off on why Rivercorp is dead, or at least should be. Half a Million dollars this year has accomplished little or nothing of substance. If the axe isn’t already gaining momentum, it is certainly being sharpened. So the question is, what to do why Rivercorp is gone?

As you can imagine, I have already thought, at length, about this one. Do we scale it down to an EDO, located in the City Hall, scrambling around doing what ever it is that EDO’s supposedly do? Do we outsource it? Do we scrap it all together and simply let things happen the way that they are going to happen, with the business community do the promotion?

Or do we think WAY outside the proverbial box, and try something radically different. Here is my thought;

A budget one fifth of what is being spent now. One office, instead of many. One, maybe two, instead of 6 or more, and ONE, simple, mandate; get people talking about Campbell River.

It is fairly obvious that the “economic development” in this town has been slow to come and the development that has come has had pretty much nothing to do with an EDO office, so why bother. Why not have an office that has the purpose of promoting Campbell River, rather than attempting to sell it. Why not have a person who is connected to the community, but is also well-connected outside of the community? Why not have a person that is good at promoting, comfortable with talking to everyone and anyone, understands how media and Social Media works and is able to leverage both? Put that person in one office of Rivercorp’s current location and then rent/lease out the rest to start-up businesses in Campbell River, thereby helping to generate a little revenue. Then, use that revenue to help cost recover for the person you hired to promote the community.

Have this person connect with the people in the community and keep them in the loop as to what is happening and where the community is going. When something is happening in Campbell River, this person is talking about it, sharing it, engaging it and encourage others who live here to do the same. While all this is happening, this person is listening, with an ear to the world outside, listening for an opportunity to engage with a person or business that is looking for a change of scenery or a place to expand into. They are not making the deals though. No they are doing the one thing that hasn’t been happening here. They would be connecting prospects to the people in the community that CAN make things happen. No memberships. No fees. No clique preference that has opportunities landing on the doorstep of a select few. Everyone has the chance to shine and help the community grow. This person would be a connector, a collaborator and a communicator. Most of all, this person would be SEEN by the community doing what he/she is paid to do.

No, before my detractors start running off at the yap, with such nonsense as “he’s just trying to convince people to give him the job”, I have two words for you; Dave Reynolds.

Now, talk amongst yourselves.

Consistently Inconsistent

If you are coming to Campbell River City Council, as a supporter of the Mayor, and take the City Council and Staff to task, be prepared to incur the wrath of a the councillors (see Mike Gage speaking to council on August 14th). However, if you come to council to bash the Mayor, no worries. Knock yourself out. Have fun. They won’t stop you. In fact, the silence from the council will be deafening.

In the August 14th meeting, Mr.Gage, who is known to not mince words, stated how he felt about the councils previous decisions and what he thought of City staff. Councilor Moglove, rebutted the statements (1.14.00 into the council meeting), stating that she took a great exception to a member of the public coming into OUR council meeting and denigrating staff…”. The kicker was when she said that delegates should show “respect” to the council and staff when in chambers. Well, somewhere over the past 2 weeks, she has had a change of heart. In fact, she allowed the owner of Ironwood Mall, Allan Edie, to bash away at the Mayor without once suggesting that he show some “respect” to the head of the Council.

I wasn’t at all impressed with what Edie was doing, either. To talk the City Council about being respectful of those who are investing in the community, while make personal attacks at the Mayor of the very city you claim to be investing in? The hypocrisy was not missed. He also dragged out the money he is investing in the community and the good he has done, which is appreciated, but he is not alone in it any more. 4 or 5 years ago, maybe, but now there are nearly a dozen new developments on the books, with multi-millions being spent in the community. The self-interest was also not missed, in a bit of a tirade of finger-pointing.

The Council needs to get past this. With all the future development and positive buzz that is happening Campbell River, the last thing we need to face is the continuing ego and posturing that has been going on. The Council needs to get a grip on the staff (the CAO is a good place to start, especially after the way he spoke to one of the delegates tonight) and they need to have an understanding; behind closed doors you can hate each other all they want. In chambers the need to be working on the same page. The occasional battle is fine, but the key word is occasional. Find the common ground and DON’T screw up the direction this community is starting to move in.

 

They don’t need your help.

There is a basic fact here that the government, City Hall management or Rivercorp (or many of the City Councilors, I expect) probably do not understand. Believe it or not, the future owners of the Catalyst property probably don’t need your help.

The media seeks comments from people at City Hall, about the sale. Comments have come from the BC Government, about the surprise of the sale and how they are looking forward to assisting the future development. The Rivercorp CEO is desperately trying to tie himself to this sale in his bid to create some sort of value for his failing organization. One only needs to see the past success of Mr.Jahn’s ventures to see that he probably does not need any help from the various levels of government, to make this endeavor a success.

There will certainly be some things that the City and the Province will be involved in, generally around permits and approvals that bog down any large scale effort in this province / community. Even Rivercorp has something to offer, with access to the volumes of data that they have created over the past decade (which, you can be sure, they will stupidly attempt to charge for access to), but beyond that, I would hope that these agencies would step out of the way and make themselves available when needed, rather than being a cumbersome nuisance to the process.

What these organizations can do is rally the community. Help the community by keeping them informed about what they do know about what is going on and helping the community prepare for everything from the influx of construction workers to transporting employees to the businesses in the park. An example of this is the Mayor’s suggestion on temporarily modifying the rules around rental suites, opening the doors to home owners to help themselves (and community) by renting space to transient workers. Now, before you go off about this taking away from hotel/motel/B&B, keep in mind the scale of what is happening in this town. In less than 2 years we will see so much construction happening in Campbell River that builders will be screaming for workers from around the province and we haven’t nearly enough space to meet that demand AND the demands of the tourism industry.

But, back to the original point. Government, and the likes of Rivercorp, need to give this new industrial park development some space, to consider how, and what, they are going to do. Sticking their noses into it now (see City CAO Andy Laidlaw’s taxation comments from last week), is going to muddy the waters of something that has some very positive vibes for out City.

It’s more than JUST industry

As excitement grows with the possible purchase and development of the old Catalyst site (I say potential, as the deal is not final until Sept. 5th), I thought I would put this out there, because I know that the City, Rivercorp, Chamber and every other business / economic promotion outfit in this town will not be talking about it. Small business finding a home in the new Industrial Park.

Everyone is so focused on what kind of employment new industry can bring to the community, but it dawned on me that there are many other opportunities in the offing, for the entrepreneurs in Campbell River. The new owner has talked of having up to 50 businesses on the property, rather than just the one we have seen in the past. Each business has its own needs and the industrious entrepreneur should be able to see the opportunity.

Imagine a decent coffee shop or diner on the property. Perhaps a convenience store or gas station. 50 companies will undoubtably have technology support needs, so a computer repair / service shop isn’t far from the mark. Why should any of these businesses have to drive or call into town to access the things they need, if there is a business right in the industrial site offering.

Now, before people start going off the deep end saying that what I am recommending is taking away the revenue opportunities of established businesses in town, consider this; this site has everything a new business is looking for, including some built-in retail / convenience services and they move here, they are going to hire people. Those people will live in town and they will spend their money both on site AND in town. Those entrepreneurial small business owners, that find their place on the industrial site, will also live and spend IN the community. It is not taking away from anyone. It is adding to what this community has to offer in attracting new business.

I, like everyone else in Campbell River, is buoyed by the potential of this potential sale and development. I am just hoping that we look at it as something entirely different from what we have been used to for the past 50 years from that site.

Campbell River’s Face Lift.

There is an odd silence in the community, right now.

Since I first moved here, I cannot recall a major development going in that didn’t have at least one person standing on their soap box, belting out rants about how the development was going to block a view or destroy a “jewel of our community”. You could almost count on it. Yet, we have 2 major developments happening in our downtown area, significant in both scale and height, and there has not been a peep from the usual suspects.

Not that this is a bad thing. Quite the opposite. I am thrilled that we have these significant additions happening and I am excited by the prospect of how much they will change the look of our downtown core. More than that, I am excited by what they potentially mean for the future of our City.

Seymour Pacific / Broadstreet Properties

(Click here for image of new Seymour Pacific / Broadstreet Head Office)

The new headquarters for one of Western Canada’s largest construction and property rental companies, will be the most significant change to downtown Campbell River in decades. A modern glass and steel structure, placed amongst building that, in some cases, date back to the mid-1940′s. It will be unlike anything that is in the community and will draw the attention of everyone who sees it. A 5-story beacon of things to come, proof that a headquarters for a major company can exist in a relatively small City on Vancouver Island.

Berwick Retirement Community

(Click here for image of new Berwick Retirement Community)

A company that has not only recognized that Campbell River is place that many are looking at for their retirement years, but is also willing to invest  in the community to capitalize on that interest? Well, it’s about time.

For years I have looked at that property between Banners and McDonald’s and wondered if anyone would every develop its value potential. The announcement of a 6-story development with over 120 units tells me that companies from outside the community are finding the climate is right for building in Campbell River. Property value is right, the views are awesome and, apparently, the hurdles to development that plagued the past are slowly starting to disappear. Having talked to a few developers, both from within and without the community, the processes are still far from perfect, but they are considerably better than what they were.

Both Berwick and Seymour Pacific’s development bear none of the markings of major developments in the past. No drawn out council meetings filled with angry renters and property owners whose “views” may be slightly obscured. No “instant experts” on land and environment, waving banners of “Save our Community from Evil Development”. Nothing. It’s not to say that some may show up when the shovels arrive, with shocked looks on their faces and anger in their eyes yelling “nobody told us”, but, for now, there is a blissful peace and excitement for the changes to come.

But wait! There is more! On top of things like Seymour Pacific, Berwick and the Old Zellers/Future Target renovations, I am told that there are several other development coming in the downtown and in Willow Point, that will continue to change the face of this town. While some will look at it as the dawn of disaster (yes, NIMBY’s and CAVE types, I am talking about you), I look at it as saying the one thing we have failed to say in a very long time; Yes. We are open for business.

When opportunity knocks and no one is home.

Once again the BC Bike Race rolled into town and the community filled with many that have never experienced this area before. Yes, it was very wet, but, to a mountain biker, that is part of the thrill and challenge of riding in a rain forest. I was out doing my volunteer thing with Citizens On Patrol, helping manage traffic, and it was great to see all these mud covered riders come in, smiling from ear to ear.

As I did the previous year, I took some time to chat with some of the riders. One rider, from South Africa, I even took off to a local sporting good store to pick up some warmer wet weather gear. Pretty well every one I talked to said the same thing; they loved the trails, the scenery and the hospitality of the community. In fact, the support they got from the people who live here was incredible. From the volunteers supporting the race day needs, to the businesses who stayed open longer hours to make sure that the riders and crews had everything they needed, our citizens stepped up in a big way.

The same could not be said for Rivercorp.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear that over 1000 people are about to descend on my community, all at once, the first thing that goes through my head is “what can we do for them, to make their visit memorable”. After doing a little investigating, I found that the organization we pay better than half a million a year to promote our community, did virtually nothing in the field of local promotion. I found out that a call for info was made to the City Hall by the race organizers,  a day or so before they arrived, for local info packages and that need was met by our awesome team at the Visitor Centre to support it. The thing is, that call should not have needed to be made. If the Tourism arm of Rivercorp was on the ball, those packages would have been in the hands of the riders well before they even made their way to the start line on Day 1. The City did its part, with the Community Centre and making sure that the park was ready, but where was Tourism Campbell River and Region? They seemed so far out of the loop that they never even noticed that the link on the BC Bike Race site went to “that other” local tourism promotion group. (click here)

Granted, there is a section on the Tourism Campbell River and Region website, dedicated to the BC Bike Race, but it is, to say the least, limited. Couple of videos, a small write-up and, if you have the time to drill down through a half-dozen links to existing data on the site, there is info on things to do and places to stay in Campbell River. I couldn’t even call it a half-assed attempt, for fear of offending people who do things half-assed. There is a fanastic map of the Snowdon Demonstration Forest trail network. Not linked (made even more ridiculous considering that Rivercorp and TCRR are sponsors of the map). Info and resources geared SPECIFICALLY to the mountain biking community. Not available. In fact, the BC Bike Race image and link were the ones placed there last year, showing that there was little done to update and prepare for this year. (click here to read all about that great day in CR, on the BCBR website)

The reason that BC Bike Race returns to Campbell River is because of the great riding trails and the support they get from the mountain biking community here in this City. If riders return, after the race, however, you can be sure that it had absolutely nothing to do with an effort by Rivercorp to make it happen. Fact is, opportunity rode up, banged a muddy fist on the door, but no one was there to answer.

Flogging the wrong horse.

When Councillor Storry brought up the notice of motion, saying that “Council wishes to review and discuss the Mayor’s role as Council Spokesperson and whether these recent comments accurately or appropriately reflect the will and view of Council”, it had many in the Council Chambers looking at each other with a quizzical “what did she just say?” look on their faces.

This is just the latest salvo in the saga of Mayor vs. Council vs. Staff. In one corner you have the Mayor, in full fighting form, going after City Staff for not thinking outside of the proverbial box to find solutions to budget shortfalls. In the other you have a City Council divided 4-1-1, when it comes to making the really important decisions. In the last corner you have the City Staff, sitting smug and indifferent to it all, with a “this is the way things work at THIS city hall” attitude.

Here’s the rub. You and I will never be privy to this discussion. For all of her boldness in bringing this motion to council, she as also specific to having it “in-camera”, hiding behind the proviso that it is an “HR” issue. It is much like one boxer challenging another to a bout behind close doors. Who ever comes out, you will be told, is the winner.

What is missing from this is the result. Make the assumption that council votes unanimously to say that they do not want the Mayor to be the spokesman for the City or the Council. Then what? Section 116 of the Community Charter states “The Mayor is the head and chief executive officer of the municipality” and say his responsibilities are to “reflect the will of Council and carry out other duties on behalf of Council.” There is nothing in there that says the Council can, essentially, take those privileges away from him, nor does it say anything about what can be done if that happens.

But, here’s the thing. The biggest part of this statement in the charter is “the will of the council and carry out other duties on behalf of council”. Unless the council has had a public or in-camera meeting where they have said “Mr.Mayor, it is the will of this council to stop bad mouthing the City Staff, because this Council thinks this group of City Staff are just peachy”, there really isn’t much that they can do.  There are two things that work in the Mayors favour; 1) he hasn’t mentioned anyone’s name and 2) he hasn’t bad mouth council or council members directly.

What is even more astounding is that Councillor Storry’s motion mentions what the potential effects the Mayor’s comments have and might have on the community. This coming from a person who voted for a 13.6% tax hike. Does she not realize that a large majority of the community doesn’t either know or care about what the mayor said at the recent Rotary Meeting, yet that tax hike hits mot of them in the pocket-book, where they ARE paying attention. Does she not understand that perpetuating this fight with the Mayor is NOT making the matter better and attempting to potentially muzzle the person who won the election for the seat, will NOT make those who did vote for him, very happy?

 Does this not have a larger impact on our community?

It’s Insulting

When you go to the dentist, to get work done on your teeth, the dentist lies to you. After adding a little numbing agent, they take a needle that looks something like a cruise missile, from the angle you are at and poke it into your gums. “You feel just a liiiiitle discomfort…..”, they say. Right. Actually, it’s a lot of discomfort. As your face goes numb, you cannot help but think “this Dentist must think I’m an idiot….”

This is how a lot of people probably feel after the recent Finance and Council meetings that brought us a 13.6% increase in the residential property tax rate. “The new tax rate will be 13.6%”. There’s that needle. “with the offsets, however, it will feel more like 7.1%”. There’s the “you may feel a slight discomfort” line. When your tax statement arrives, you will feel it and think “these people must think I’m an idiot….”

It’s insulting.

The City Hall Management has been playing fast and loose with the numbers and they haven’t done anything near the preparation needed to ensure that the Community survives tough times without being beaten to death by taxes.

At the end of March 2011, City Hall was telling us that the 2012 deficit was projected to be better than $1.8 Million. By December 2011 it was $500,000. In December 2011 the City Manager said things like “water rate structure is inadequate to sustain these utilities and utility rate increases will be required to maintain current levels of service in to the future”. Yet by April 2012 they are presenting reductions in the water parcel tax. In January they are talking about the potential of a 24% tax increase, then proudly announce that they have been able to get it to a more manageable 13% (after it was almost 16%).

Knowing that there were potentially significant issues on the horizon in 2012 (such as the change in Catalyst property assessment) the City management presented a fairly minor residential property tax increase. That would be the same people who presented us with the 13.6% monster in April of this year, stating that it was the result of “unforseen issues”. Apparently they had forgotten what they had talked about a year earlier.

The Staff tells council that the Strathcona Regional District budget will not have a noticeable effect on the Campbell River tax payer. The RD itself, in March of this year, stated to the media that “Basically it’s status quo. We’re keeping costs down to the rate of inflation.” Yet the residential increase for Campbell River this year will be 8% (inflation is about 3%) and as high as 32% on Quadra Island.

At what point do these government bureaucrats think that we, the taxpayer, won’t notice?

The final straw came on the May 1st Campbell River City Council meeting, where the City’s Corporate Services Manager was asked the question “how much of that 13% increase represents the loss of taxes from Catalyst?” “about 12%”, she says. So how is it possible that, with offsets that make the 13.6% increase feel more like 7.1%, we are still able to have a balanced budget. Aren’t we still short 5% to cover the loss of Catalyst taxes?

This is OK. This is what’s best for our community. This will help us in the long run. THIS is insulting.

Supporting New Opportunity….maybe

Well, after spending the better part of 2 months following and monitoring the Finance Committee and the City’s development of its new Financial Plan (and subsequent 13.6% residential property tax increase), I am back to looking at everything else. Today’s “WTH” moment belongs to the potential development of the Canadian Extreme Multi-Sport Park, north of Campbell River.

On Tuesday night (May 1st, 2012), following the adoption of the financial plan and tax increase, the council was presented with a report regarding the proposed development of a new multi purpose sport park North of the City, near the Race Point area. While the idea of having private investors put millions into building this facility (which would potentially have everything from a 1/4 Mile race track to a drive in movie theatre), was accepted as a positive for the community, the location was not. According to the report, the location (encompassing part of the Discovery Bay Neighbourhood Concept Plan area in the new Sustainable Official Community Plan) was not going to fit for the future of the community.

“The proposed Multi-Sport Park is not identified within the Plan as an intended land use.Rather, the vision for the area is a residential “lifestyle” community with a golf course and resort community centered on a village core. Several of the proposed uses for the Multi-Park, such as drag strip and oval track for stock car racing would be expected to conflict with the vision of the Neighbourhood Concept Plan.”

OK, so here is where I get a little lost. There is nothing there, yet. Granted that plans for those Timberwest Managed Forest lands did include things like golf courses and homes, those ideas have been around for close to a decade and have never amounted to much more than that; ideas. There isn’t anything there yet. So, why is the city concerned about the “residential” lifestyle of a place that does not yet exist, yet blindly allowed a pole peeling plant to be built right next to residential property, not 6 km away from the area the Multi-purpose sport park is looking at?

Here’s the other kicker. The multi-purpose sport park proponents, in the letter to council, stated that they were ready to put a downpayment on the property. Who are they purchasing it from? Although I haven’t been able to confirm it yet, I would speculate that it was being purchased from the same people that were planning to build the golf course and homes that were to be part of said “residential lifestyle”.

In the letter to council, the proponents were requesting a 5-year tax exemption, while they worked to build a facility that they expected to be worth about $25 Million. The City’s conclusion was “Considering that a property tax exemption on the subject land would directly and strictly benefit a business, there is no authority in the Community Charter to accommodate the proponent’s request.” This is an odd statement as this is the very thing that the City is doing for the downtown, in particular the new Seymour Pacific development on St.Ann’s. Considering the potential long term taxes on a development that might be worth $25 Million in the future, why isn’t the City seriously exploring this?

In the near future I hope to sit with the City’s Land Use Manager (who wrote the report) to get a better understanding of the differences between this development and the recent decisions that the City has made regarding other developments and development areas. I also plan to ask where Rivercorp is in supporting the proponents effort. In the meantime, have a look at some of the info for yourself.

Page 34-36
https://campbellriver.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=103311

Page 285 – 292 (of downloadable SOCP)
http://sustainablecampbellriver.ca/?p=633

On Google Maps (note that the Pole Peeling Plant is approx. 5 to 6Km South of the planned location)
50.093384, -125.368080