In the mix VIBI Mariners baseball team winds up
for national championships.
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VOL. 26, NO. 104
Giant slip-and-slide set for Harbour City BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
Pastime passion
Leanne Emberton, an occupational therapist, stops in Maffeo Sutton Park during her lunch break Wednesday to indulge in her two hobbies: gardening and photography. Warm midspring weather is bringing out colour in parks across the city. CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Deadline for hotel construction looms
I
COMPANY HAS until May 30 to lay foundation, says agreement with city. BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
A Nanaimo city councillor will “definitely entertain” a bid to claw back property from the conference centre hotel developer if a deadline to lay foundation isn’t met. SSS Manhao has until the end of May to pour the foundation for its $50-million conference centre hotel or Nanaimo city council has the option to purchase the property. Coun. Gord Fuller plans to propose politicians flex that right.
It’s been more than nine months since the company announced the start of the construction phase of its hotel. The building permit application expired in December, the developer hasn’t reapplied and there’s been no recent discussion about a permit with the City of Nanaimo, according to Dale Lindsay, the city’s director of community development. The lack of a building permit means no foundation can be laid and without one by May 30, the city can reclaim the site. Mayor Bill McKay said he doesn’t want council to make any rash decisions. There are not “six other people” lined up to get the property and he said he believes the developer has a winning formula to make a hotel on that site successful.
But Fuller questions how long council is willing to “wait and see.” “We go out of our way to offer great conditions and then nothing,” said Fuller, who believes the developer should be held to the agreement. “Unless they have some really, really, really, really good excuse, but I just can’t see it. I can’t see why they wouldn’t have contacted us by now to say that they weren’t going to be able to meet that deadline.” Council needs something to show the developer is committed and “we just haven’t gotten it yet,” says Fuller. McKay said things aren’t going as fast as he envisioned, but he understands SSS Manhao is still working on the project, including on design modifications and financing. See ‘COUNCIL’ /4
A giant slip-and-slide could be spilling into the Harbour City this summer. Slide the City, a 300-metre slip-and-slide and street party, is working on a permit to make Nanaimo ground zero for its inaugural tour north of the border. Vancouver Island is up on the event website as a destination for the event, which is coming to Canada for the first time this year. Thousands of people have already signed up to be the first to hear about registration, but it hasn’t been known which city would play host. The City of Nanaimo now reports it’s helping Slide the City with the permit process that could see people coursing down a giant slide this July. Slide the City co-founder John Malfatto confirms Nanaimo is its Vancouver Island pick. While Victoria was in the running, “Nanaimo kind of said, ‘Hey we can get you permitted really quickly and we’ve got some streets that will work really well’,” he said. Slide the City is working with Nanaimo to pick a street for a one-day event, which can see up to 6,000 slip-and-sliders. Registration will open once it has a permit. “Right now it really is in the hands of the health department and it has been for the past few weeks,” said Malfatto, adding the company wants to get the whole community involved, including non-profits, which would get donations in exchange for volunteers. Rachel Thomas, Slide the City’s director of slippery surfaces, has been working with the city and didn’t want to disclose any further details, but said her group hopes to make an announcement by May 12. “It’s just so new, unique and unusual and another big draw is just how nostalgic it is,” said Thomas. “People going back to when they used to put on these fun mini slip-and-slides in their backyard, but we’re kind of making it bigger and better and bringing it to the heart of downtown and bringing an entire community together.” news@nanaimobulletin.com
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