Wednesday Sept. 25, 2013 www.saobserver.net $1.25 GST Included
Council denies Jackson rezoning
Déjà vu: Politicians repeat 2006 decision. By Lachlan Labere oBServer STAFF
A request by the school district to rezone the former J.l. Jackson school site for commercial use was turned down by city council – for a second time. School district #83 wished to rezone the site from P3 Institutional to c2 Town centre commercial. At a public hearing held Monday night at north canoe Hall, school board president Bobbi Johnson told council the majority of the property is surplus to the school district and is no longer needed. She said the board believes a c2 designation would promote a wide variety of development options for the future. A city staff memorandum to council notes the school district has applied to subdivide the property from two lots to four, and plans to construct a new school district office on one of the lots. The same memo also delves into the history of the property, going back to 2006 when a retailer sought to rezone three-quarters of the property to c7 Shopping centre commercial for a new grocery store. Substantial public outcry at a related public hearing convinced council to turn down the application. Subsequently, a city committee was formed to review the site and come up with development guidelines which, in 2009 became part of the city’s official community plan. These guidelines received significant public input and were driven by smart growth principles for development. Monday night, after the hearing, coun. chad eliason recalled the well-attended public hearing where he said person after person commented on how it was too important a piece of taxpayers’ property for the public not to have input on how it’s developed. He went on to say the school district doesn’t need to rezone the entire property – that doing so would go
Bin smoulders at mill Wood chips: Fire tough to put out.
By Barb Brouwer oBServer STAFF
It was a slow burn that took firefighters from all four halls in the Salmon Arm Fire department several hours to extinguish. Firefighters from Hall 1 were dispatched to nearby canoe Forest Products at 6:42 a.m. Friday, Sept. 20. Assistant fire chief rod Macfarlane said what was dispatched as a container fire, was actually smoke emanating from a very large chip bin. “Because of the amount of stuff in the chip bins and limited access, we had to spend a lot of time to empty the bins and water down the chips,” says Macfarlane noting that when the chips were exposed to oxygen, smoulder turned to outright fire. “We were able to confine it to the bins, limiting loss and damage to other equipment and nearby structures.” loaders operated by mill staff were used to empty small amounts of chips at a time from three very large bins or hoppers so firefighters could spray them down. “We’re not sure ex-
See Kentel on page A2
James murray/oBServer
James murray/oBServer
Well-contained: Firefighters from four Salmon Arm Fire Department halls work to extinguish smouldering wood chips at Canoe Forest Products Friday. actly what the ignition source was, but the fire wasn’t going anywhere and the mill was operational,” says Macfarlane, noting firefighters from four
This week The sun made an appearance for the tennis club’s annual open tourney. See A15. Council responds to complaints about the city’s entrance. See A3.
halls were coming and going as they were able leave their jobs to work on the fire. “It took a long time to complete the task.” deemed accidental,
Macfarlane says firefighters were on scene until just after 1 p.m. There was damage to some of the running gears and wiring, which were scorched,
he says. company wood manager Mike Johnson said he is unable to comment at this time because of an ongoing investigation.
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Life & Times ............... A8 Sports................A15-A18 Arts & Events ... A19-A21 Time Out................... A22 Vol. 106, No. 33, 40 pages