PETERS – Let’s talk about the future of the CP Rail corridor downtown
(Image: CFJC Today)
THE DRAFT DOWNTOWN PLAN was given the green light by Kamloops council this week.
It doesn’t have too many more hurdles to clear before it officially becomes the high-level idea document the entire city looks toward as it regulates the ebbs and flows of downtown development.
An official neighbourhood plan like this doesn’t attract a lot of interest from the public, even though this is the big picture direction on which the city wants to set its compass.
This document is for the dreamers — the people who want to put their shoulders to the massive boulder of change and get it rolling downhill.
James Peters is the radio anchor at CFJC, coming to Kamloops in 2006. He anchors the afternoon news on B-100 and 98.3 CIFM, and contributes weekly editorials to the CFJC Evening News. He tweets regularly @Jamloops.
There was a model made in the late 60s or early 70s of the CPR yards being covered and passing under the city. Does anyone remember any decisions made or know where the model went?
The plan I remember was to create berms on either side of the tracks to shield them from noise and sightlines. There is nowhere to move the tracks — we should embrace them, not try to ignore them. Remember, they once ran down Victoria Street.
This sounds like the case of people who buy a place under the glide path for a busy airport and then want the airport to move.
Unless the municipality has the money and political punch to have CP Rail “move”, then it is time to have a taste of reality. It might also be time to rethink the ideas of transforming the downtown core into something it can’t be with such a large and busy rail yard close by.
It is past the time when Kamloops should have a ward system in place so that a big chunk of the taxation money from outside the downtown core doesn’t get funnelled into projects in one particular, favoured area.
…some of us remember then council member Dianne Kerr’s visit to Ottawa with a proposal to move the rail yards out of downtown. If memory serves me, I believe it was Otto Lang who turned it down with very little discussion! I am sure Dianne remembers the details!!
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