Any hope for those objecting to the University College of the North (UCN)'s new campus, and the proposed development agreement between the province, negotiating on UCN's behalf, and the City of Thompson, rests in the hands of five people.
For reasons ranging from the impact of housing on future development of the area to the financial impact on the Wildlife Association during construction, Volker Beckmann, Milton Goble, Wayne Hall, Marion Morberg, and Carolyn Turpie all spoke against the rezoning of land on the site of the proposed UCN campus, in the area of the Thompson Regional Community Centre, at a Nov. 8 public hearing on the issue.
The next step was for city council to give the rezoning bylaw second reading, which it did during its Nov. 15 regular meeting. Two councillors did not take part in this portion of the meeting - Coun. Judy Kolada, who was absent with regrets, and Coun. Brad Evenson, who excused himself as soon as the subject of UCN came up, informing council that he was doing so "due to a potential conflict of interest in the future." The bylaw passed by a margin of five votes to two, moving the process on to its next stage.
"If second reading is passed, then the City must send notice to every person who objected at the public hearing," explained city director of planning and community development Gary Ceppetelli. In other words, those five objectors will be receiving written notice, informing them that they have 14 days to voice a second objection.
If there are no objections this time, the bylaw will return to council for third and final reading. However, if even one of the five objects again within the two weeks, the issue will be referred to the Thompson Planning District Board, which then must hold another public hearing on the issue.
Should this happen, any second-time objectors will have the public opportunity to convince the planning board of the validity of their arguments. Should the planning board not object to the proposal, they will then refer the matter back to city council for third reading of the bylaw.
"I feel that low-cost housing is required, but not at the cost of us possibly losing our recreation centre," said Coun. Stella Locker during the debate surrounding second reading. Locker, who voted against the bylaw, pointed out that there is a provincial election coming up in late 2011, at which point a new government could potentially scrap the entire UCN project. "We don't want housing at the recreation centre if the campus is not built," she said.
"The area for family housing would be better used for a parking area for the rec centre at little or no expense to the taxpayers of Thompson," suggested Coun. Luke Robinson, the other councillor to vote against the bylaw. "I believe the family housing should be in a residential area."
"All this controversy over 24 students, when we know there are approximately 200 families looking for housing right now," bemoaned Robinson as part of a laundry list of reasons explaining his vote which also included traffic congestion and a parking crunch. "It is intended in the contract that the campus will share parking with the rec centre as long as the campus agrees," he added, wondering aloud where rec centre users would park if UCN decided it wanted all the on-site parking spaces.
"How does this help the taxpayer base when the housing is being subsidized by a 50 per cent tax credit and the remainder by the local taxpayers?" asked Robinson.
"I strongly support the construction of student housing," said Coun. Dennis Fenske, adding that "we're still dangerously short of student housing in this community."
Coun. Charlene Lafreniere remarked that those who spoke against the bylaw at the public hearing seemed to be generally in favour of the new campus, at least as a generality, even if they disagreed with specifics. "I could barely tell when someone was opposing," she said. "It was nice to hear such supportive opposition."
"I almost feel insulted that there's going to be a 24-unit housing development put there on that footprint, especially when we know full well that the need is in the hundreds," offered Coun. Penny Byer, agreeing with the assessments of Robinson and Fenske. "For the same size footprint, you could have more housing units." On the issue of parking, Byer admitted that she liked the idea of a smoother, easier-riding parking lot, and suggested that there were parking possibilities which had gone unexplored, including a multi-level parking facility.
Byer also expressed empathy with the situation of the Wildlife Association. "They stand a chance of losing revenue and viability," she said. "I think we've got a responsibility to the Wildlife Association to help them work through the agreement." She nonetheless voted in favour of the bylaw, noting that "I don't think there's anything more important to Thompson right now than getting UCN off the ground."
"I said publicly during my campaign that I'm in favour of the housing as is, where is, and I haven't heard an argument to dissuade me from that position," said Coun. Erin Stewart, who joined the meeting via telephone. "We're going to have a whole bunch of services available in the same community, and for these new residents that come to the university, they're going to be able to be included into our community with easy access to these services."
The Thompson Planning District Board, which is made up jointly of the City of Thompson and Local Government District of Mystery Lake, came into existence in 1978.
The planning board has virtually the same faces as council with the addition of a member from the province and Local Government District of Mystery Lake.
