What's Up In the South End?

Greetings from the neighbourhood plan steering committee with the first of a series of reports and updates as we embark on our neighbourhood planning process.  Hopefully you are all familiar with the concept of a neighbourhood plan and what it means to our south end neighbourhood. We have established our steering committee which is made up of a number of SECA members and other individuals from the community representing business, senior and youth interests.

(editor’s note:  just in case you haven’t noticed, if the steering committee wants to dance after a meeting, they will all have a partner…there’s an equal number of men and women…:)

SECA Members Douglas Hardie, Gord Fuller, Blake McGuffie, Pat Portsmouth, Pam James are joined by Ron Thomson (and daughter Amy), at large resident; Charles Torhjelm, Seniors rep; Rebecca Chan, Youth rep; Moni Murray, Nicol Street Hostel, Business rep, and our illustrious leader Chris Sholberg. Missing from Picture: Darren Moss, Tectonica, Business rep; Leanne Dawson, at large resident; and Carla Smith, industrial property owner rep.

Chris Sholberg from the City is leading the process and we met with him on Wed July 22 to embark on a walkabout of the neighbourhood.  The intent was to begin a process of identifying key themes and issues that we might want to address through the neighbourhood planning process.

It was fascinating to look at the neighbourhood that we are all so familiar with, through the neighbourhood planning lens.

• We started off with an appreciation for the wonderful park and the trees that surround Deveril Square Park.  Is there a finer stand of Maple trees in the city?  We thought about trees again when we looked at Haliburton street, and wondered how the street would look if trees were planted along its entire length.
• We paused on Esplanade beside Robins Gardens and considered the potential impact of the planned residential development there.
• From there we looked across the reclaimed land that hosts the railway tracks, mill and deep water docks and wondered about development possibilities, public access to the water, public access sea wall and possible park land bordering the No 1 reserve to the North.
• Then we walked over to Nicol St. and experienced the oppressive noise and pollution of this car focused highway that cuts through the centre of our neighbourhood.  What measures might calm the traffic and noise pollution?  What kind of residential and commercial mix would rejuvenate the street and make it a place for people not cars.
• Finally we stopped by the old Balmoral and talked about  a vision for our neighbourhood that is inclusive and diverse and addresses complex social issues in a creative and balanced way.

One thing we learned from the exercise is that we all have ideas and thoughts about how we would like to see things develop in the south end.   What did team members find most surprising or intriguing?

The most surprising thing for me was that across the road from Robins Gardens (where the rail tracks are) used to be sea and sand and the tides would come and go there. That is why it was an attractive Motel at the time. Somehow or other the beach got filled in and that is what you see today. ~ Charles Torhjelm

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For me the most notable thing was the huge potential for the Port, Rail & Industrial Lands.  If all the stakeholders can come together on this one the benefit to the South End as well as the whole of Nanaimo would be phenomenal. ~ Gord Fuller

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“It is over 42 years since I came to this beautiful country which has given me so many opportunities and now I am retired I have time to give something back. The South End neighbourhood has so much potential and the people are lovely.

I believe that someone, somewhere has to start the ball rolling  to stop the urban sprawl of Nanaimo; that creating more density in our neighbourhoods will help keep taxes down; improve our environment in many ways.

Not gentrification but comfortable homes for working people with maybe little infill cottages for the elders and well planned low rise apartments.  But all this will need plenty of open spaces so that people can walk and children can skip.

My impression on our first walkabout?  How hard some business and people have worked to improve their effect on the neighbourhood.   How unattractive some of the light industrial areas are.

The worst is what a negative effect Nicol Street has on the whole community.”   ~Pat Portsmouth

It’s going to be a fascinating conversation and it’s only just beginning.

Will YOU get the Chance to give your input too?

Phase 1 (out of 5), is really about creating the starting point:  assembling all the info that we already have about the South End in one place.  Part of that process will include a Public Open House, anticipated for mid to late September.  If you come, you’ll learn how we’re creating the plan, what we know so far about our neighbourhood (i.e. zoning, the official city plan, census, etc.)  From that will come a community wide survey for residents to complete, so we get a clearer sense of Who/What the South End is at this snapshot in time.

All that will prepare us for the next step, Step 2 (out of 5).   That’s where we’ll dig deeper into issues and opportunities in the South End, and start to figure out what/who we want to be in the future.  Between October and December, there will be various open houses and other opportunities to gather input from all who are interested.  Watch this space!

Thanks to SECA Chair Douglas Hardie and Community Planner Chris Sholberg, both for their leadership in this project and for writing this post.

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