Fred and Janice Riley made the following submission on 2022-08-19

We have some concerns regarding the rezoning of the property along Quilchena Avenue that used to be railway and is proposed to change to P3 zoning. We encourage this Council to postpone any residential rezoning in the floodplain at this time. We feel that the City is jumping the gun by considering rezoning for any kind of development in the flood plain area until they get the results of the study. We would encourage this Council to slow down and think about why they are in such a rush. Perhaps they could postpone any zoning changes until after the Fall election. No need to push these changes through at the end of a term. We are also concerned about the increased traffic on Quilchena Avenue with that number of new residences be built along an already busy street. Increased traffic means increased parking needs and increased foot traffic (on the side of the street where there is no sidewalk). Can we assume that the City would have to put in either a sidewalk along the south side of Quilchena Ave or a safe pedestrian crosswalk if they are the developers of this site? We are also concerned with the height of the new development. Because that land is in the flood plain, we can presume that the ground level will need to be increased considerably, therefore the buildings would sit way above the height of the street. This will impact those existing residences in the neighborhood. Quality of life will be negatively impacted by lack of backyard privacy for those existing residences along Coldwater Avenue, increased traffic noise, increased light at night, traffic congestion and safety at the west end of Coldwater Avenue, blockage of the view of the mountains and increased general busyness along that corridor. We feel that the potential P3 area should remain as Park/Public Use to accommodate the new proposed pedestrian walkway which would also tie in with an expansion of Fairley Park. Let’s hold on to our green spaces and encourage our residents to walk and cycle in our community. We would also recommend that the proposed P7 area be developed as parking which would accommodate the parking needs for the new pedestrian corridor as well as the parking needs for the proposed expansion of Fairley Park. Where will the park users park? Right now they are parking on what is to become the connecting Cleasby Street area. There will not be enough parking for Fairley Park once Cleasby is completed. So we encourage this Council to postpone any rezoning of this area until further studies are completed that address the concerns of your taxpayers. We need more consultation and time to consider any recommendations that may come from further information resulting from the flood plain study.