Editor:

It appears a sneaky municipal tactic is unfolding at City Hall. A development application for Maeford Place expansion is gliding through the approval hoops with hardly a ripple.

Its first public appearance was only Oct. 20 with the city planner’s report dated Oct. 15 when it was given first and second reading by city council.

Nov. 3, the city held the required public meeting, giving just one week’s notice to concerned citizens and the application would likely have passed at third reading that night but not for traffic, safety and parking concerns raised by myself and one other homeowner at the hearing.

A two-week reprieve was given to allow city staff to prepare a report for council. This Monday, Nov. 17, this application could pass third and final reading and be a done deal.

Traffic safety, parking and congestion on busy Kinchant Street was a major concern for area residents when the original Maeford Place development was approved in 2006.

Those concerns were not heard by the City, and no action has been taken to date to rectify these serious issues.

The proposed expansion would result in a 34 per cent increase in the parking and traffic volumes at Maeford with no provision in the proposal for any remediation.

While the original Maeford Place residents are selected for assisted living subsidy by Northern Health, based on need, from people on the public waiting list, it was revealed at the Nov. 3 hearing this expansion for 12 independent living apartments, with no contract or involvement by Northern Health at this stage.

In other words, this is a purely for-profit business venture by the owners, sneaking in on the coat tails of favourable zoning, density, building height and parking standards granted to the original assisted living project in 2006.

The picture I provide was taken at 8:30 a.m. the morning of Nov. 4, after the public hearing and illustrates the concerns we have about traffic and parking.

Kinchant Street is probably the busiest street in North Quesnel after Front Street. It is a short cut for commuters and local business traffic trying to bypass the congestion on Front Street.

The picture, at the height of the commuter and school rush hour, shows a large commercial vehicle parked on the west side of Kinchant Street, obstructing a sight line for homeowners when they try to pull out of their driveways.

On the east side of Kinchant, the HandiDart bus is loading passengers right on the roadway on the school bus route.

This situation is extremely dangerous for all concerned, whether students, commuters, pedestrians, residents and especially for bus passengers.

They didn’t even provide a pull-out lane for large vehicles to park in for safe loading and safe sight lines on the corner.

When the 10 ore so school buses travel north on Kinchant each morning and south each afternoon, they have to run a gauntlet of large vehicles parked at Maeford Place, restricting the roadway.

This is not an isolated event, it has gone on on weekdays for the year Maeford has operated. It’s even worse in winter.

City Hall never considered the other area traffic when they reviewed and approved Maeford Place in 2006.

The main entrance to the building is right at the congested school entrance corner and Maeford Place’s parking lot is more than 200 feet away to the south.

Naturally, the preference for visitors, staff and residents is to park on Kinchant Street, closer to the building entrance. This is the source of the dangerous road hazard that has resulted.

We’d like council to always put public safety above a developer’s thirst for profit.

Colin Almond

Quesnel