Well, hasn’t Onni been blessed with an effective public relations opportunity.
There’s nothing like innocent children and working parents desperate for quality childcare to pull at our heart strings. And that’s just what has landed on Onni’s doorstep at Imperial Landing.
Generation Daycare, currently located on Trites Road just south of Moncton, is in desperate need of a new home since its landlord served it an eviction notice earlier this month. The owner of the property is turfing all its current business tenants and is said to be applying for rezoning to build single-family homes.
Generation Daycare is probably not the only business struggling to find a new home, but it’s certainly the most vocal, and for good reason. As any daycare parent knows, location is critical; if it’s not near your kid’s school, it probably won’t work.
So, understandably, the daycare’s owners were thrilled when it appeared space could be found at Onni’s Imperial Landing site nearby. The catch is that a daycare business doesn’t fit the site’s current zoning for mixed maritime use (MMU). And this takes us to the tedious Onni/City saga.
Although Onni had agreed to the MMU zoning when it bought the property — that zoning is what kept the purchase price down — the developer claims it can’t comply. Onni has employed various tactics to pressure city council to change the zoning. Most effectively, it has simply let the buildings stand empty, creating a somewhat desolate looking swath of grey concrete in the heart of Steveston.
But a less-than bustling boardwalk is one thing. Now, Onni has a load of adorable children and their hard-working parents crowding an upcoming council meeting to plead for rezoning so their centre can find a home.
The councillors are going to look decidedly ogre-like if they deny the daycare’s application. However, to do otherwise is to fuel the very real perception that in Richmond, it’s a case of build first, rezone later. In fact, the reason Generation is looking for a new home is because its current landlord is so confident this site will be rezoned residential, they’re already evicting the business tenants.
Moreover, the reason Generation is so desperate for the Onni deal to work is because there is precious little else, given so much of the city has already been rezoned residential.
Obviously, there are times when it makes sense to rezone, but rezoning is the city’s trump card. It’s the bit of power it can wield as it oversees the city’s development. It needs to be done with a view to creating balance and only with compensation. Unless Onni offers the city something meaningful for rezoning, what’s to stop this whole scenario from replaying at the Trites Road site. It already looks to be heading that way.
