June 27, 2023
**This is the second letter I submitted in response to the public hearing for the proposed commercial development in Marysville**
Dear Mayor and Council,
In response to Bylaws 2732 and 2733, I would like to express that as a commercial property and business owner in Kimberley, I am opposed to this proposed zoning change.
There have been a myriad of valid concerns brought forward by others throughout this engagement process that I believe speak for themselves, so what I would like to address is the matter in which this zoning change has been communicated, specifically by Mayor McCormick.
Please be aware this is not intended as an attack or as any disrespect towards Mayor McCormick personally , however you are the one who has put forth the most messaging and communication in support of this specific matter, and as such it is predominantly your communications and messaging I am referring and responding to.
Over the past few months we have seen a number of individuals step forward to express their concerns regarding this proposed development. Since the start of this engagement process, we have seen voices in support amplified while those expressing concerns receive less attention.
At the start of this process we saw a high level of engagement from the Mayor, offering a lot of communication about why this development would be beneficial. We were told there would be dozens of jobs and over a million dollars in payroll – numbers that sound very impressive until you put them in the context that, as of this past weekend, the median cost of a single family home in Kimberley, based on what is presently available on the MLS, is over $726.000.
At the State of the City, the Mayor communicated that this was not and should not be about a brand, that this was simply a zoning change – as long as it wasn’t Tim Horton’s, because then Mayor McCormick would *not* be in favour. At the same time, the Mayor also made the comment that purchasing a franchise was actually the best chance of success a new business owner had, which completely negates all the Kimberley based brands and businesses that have built and grown their success right here. There are businesses that have opened second and third locations in other municipalities across the region, there are brands that have relocated to larger spaces in order to accommodate their influx of customers, there are hospitality groups that are opening additional businesses to add to their existing successful roster of restaurants – every one of these is a sign of success in a small business community, and every one of these is a success that happened here in Kimberley, that the current environment allowed to happen. The Mayor instead paints small businesses – sometimes these very ones – as the problem.
I think it is disrespectful to the investments of the property and business owners in this community that throughout this process, you never refer to them as investors or developers.
If the median cost of a single family home in Kimberley is upwards of three quarters of a million dollars, it is fair and respectful to acknowledge these homeowners as investors. If over 85% of the tax base in this town is coming from residential property owners, then these owners are *absolutely* investors in this community.
They are your largest investment group.
The second largest group of investors – at just over 12% of your tax base – is commercial property owners. I know it is safe to say that many of these commercial property owners are also business owners. I am one of these investors.
Residential and commercial property owners are 98% of the tax base.
It would be comforting to know that this very large group of investors, who pretty much single handedly contribute to the economy in this city through the very high tax rates they pay, were treated with the same respect as a much, much smaller group of investors who, regardless of what they build, will never have the same impact as the larger group.
Yet you privilege this minority.
We see this at every level of government, where a very small group of investors, developers, and corporations are given enormous opportunities to negatively impact other larger groups of investors, under the guise of ‘job creation’ or filling some implied ‘gap in service’. What is really happening is that the small group of investors is allowed to grow their investments at the expense of the larger group.
That is what is happening here if this zoning change is approved.
The calls for independent studies of economic impacts are valid and sound, as the large group of investors in this community is rightfully concerned about how this zoning change would impact their current investments, and the fact that this variable is unknown should be reason enough to pause moving forward.
You genuinely have no idea how this is going to impact this community. Pretending that it will not demonstrates an enormous lack of respect for your large group of investors, who are rightfully concerned
Early on in the engagement process I was speaking with a Councillor – thank you to those of you who acknowledged my communications and subsequently reached out – who told me that they didn’t want to see Kimberley turn into ‘The Strip’ in Cranbrook, but they didn’t want to see it turn into Nelson either. I asked this Councillor, what then, did they want Kimberley to be?
They could not answer that question.
I would suspect that this Councillor could answer that question now, but that is ultimately what this comes down to.
What do you want this community to be?,
Why are you seemingly disregarding the valid concerns of the largest group of investors in your community in order to benefit – to privilege – such a small group?
Who are you building Kimberley for?
Thank you,
Diana Fox
Owner
Mountain Grass Gallery + Bistro
Submitted to Kimberley Mayor + Council
June 27, 2023