With the federal election completed yesterday, the next voting opportunity for Kimberley residents will be the municipal election on November 15. This time around, they will have to make more decisions than just who will fill the chairs of mayor and council for the next five years. Mayor Jim Ogilvie says there will be two referendum questions on the ballot as well.

The first referendum concerns a proposed boundary expansion. The city will be asking whether or not they support the plan to bring two areas into city limits. One parcel in question is an area of close to 90 acres located between the Summer and Morrison subdivisions. Ogilvie points out that 20 additional acres are already in the city and the owner of the property is looking to bring the rest into Kimberley as well. He is proposing a 200 to 250 lot residential subdivision on the land.

The other proposed new area of town would include quite a bit more property. About 600 acres in the Concentrator Hill area - Taylor's Mill - could be included within city boundaries if residents approve. Again, the mayor says, the land owner would be looking to develop the property and create a subdivision of about 500 lots. In either case, he emphasizes, the expansion would not cost the city any money as both developers would pay all on- and off-site costs to connect to the city's systems, such as roads, water and sewer.

As far as water supply is concerned, Ogilvie is not worried. "We feel we have enough water in our existing system and we have the capacity in the sewage treatment system." He adds at a public meeting held at city hall recently, some members of the community expressed their concern about water supply and spoke against development in general. "We feel this is reasonable growth and it does meet the SmartGrowth principles," Ogilvie states.

He says the city would benefit from the new subdivisions through additional tax revenue. As both would be close to town he also thinks the new homes would bring more customers to downtown businesses.

Ogilvie feels especially the development at Taylor's Mill is also proposing the latest standards for environmental protection. "We could end up with an environmentally sustainable community there."

Ogilvie believes the community should have had plenty of opportunity to get enough information about the proposed developments to make a decision on the referendum. Developers have consulted with neighbours, held open houses and a newsletter was sent to all households in Kimberley. If they are still looking for more information, Ogilvie says, they should contact council members or the developers directly.

From his perspective, most people in the community are in favour of the boundary expansion and Ogilvie believes a moderate increase in residents over the next years would benefit the city.

"It can't happen over night," he emphasizes, but adds there should be no danger of that, seeing it took 12 years to develop 200 lots at Forest Crowne. He sees a size of around 12,000 residents as a sustainable and healthy population for Kimberley businesses, schools and recreation facilities. At this time, Kimberley has about 6,000 residents.

The other issue Kimberley residents will get to decide on is the improvement of the highway right through town, from the Kimbrook right to the Catholic church. In a current proposal, the Ministry of Highways would pay for the cost of the pavement as well as half of the cost for getting the curb done. The city would have to come up with funds for the other half of the curb and the sidewalks.

The total cost of the project would amount to over $11 million, but the mayor points out the city would have to come up with a maximum of $3.9 million. "It's a lot of money, but it will do the road all the way through town," he states.

This would not only provide a good facelift, Ogilvie says, but also make the road more drivable. "If you drive down that road now, it's very bumpy." He says some ambulances are avoiding to take the highway altogether if they have unstable patients on board.

The sidewalks, Ogilvie continues, are also in terrible shape as they have never been replaced. In fact, there are many broken slabs that provide tripping hazards. "We're trying to encourage people to use their cars less and walk more," Ogilvie says. "You can't ask them to do these things and then not provide the places to do it."

Both referenda will be put forward to Kimberley residents at the time of the municipal election on November 15.