EDITORIAL – Whatever is Middleton thinking with her notice of motion?

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SOMETIMES one has to wonder where politicians’ brains are at. Tomorrow, at a regular meeting of Kamloops City council, Coun. Margot Middleton’s notice of motion on looking for alternative locations for a new RCMP downtown detachment will be up for debate.

Shockingly, Middleton wants to include Stuart Wood School as a possible location for that new police building. What is she thinking?

If she proposes that the Stuart Wood grounds could be used for the police station while leaving the school intact, that’s a totally impractical idea and she must know that the beloved heritage school would have to be torn down to make room for a big new building and the necessary parking.

Middleton’s notice of motion: ‘That Council direct staff to prioritize exploring potential alternate locations for an RCMP building, including the former Stuart Wood site and other potentially available land either publicly or privately owned.”

Maybe Middleton doesn’t know or understand, or care, what a precious heritage resource Stuart Wood School is. Maybe she doesn’t know who owns the land and the building and the challenges of demolishing that school.

The City’s Heritage Engagement Group has raised strong concerns about Middleton’s initiative, calling it “an unnecessary travesty,” pointing out that Stuart Wood is listed on Canada’s Historic Places and has heritage designation. It notes, as an aside, that Kamloops has already lost a major heritage building to the current police station, which was built on the site of Allan Matthews School.

“There are numerous other places where a new station can go that don’t require the city to lose one of its most historically significant buildings.”

There’s nothing wrong with looking for alternative sites for a new police station but why Middleton specifically included Stuart Wood as a possibility is something she’ll have to explain when defending her notice of motion.

The first thing she should do is amend that motion to remove Stuart Wood as a possible site. If she refuses, mayor and council should do it for her.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.