SUPPORT FOR SALT SPRING METAL RECYCLING'S TEMPORARY USE PERMIT

The Islands Trust commissioned a Industrial Land Needs Assessment report that was published August 2013. The report states the following; If the community interest is aligned with accommodating the employment growth which requires industrial land, then we make the following recommendations: Recommendation 1: Create a simpler, more flexible regulatory environment. To facilitate making lands available for industrial uses, we recommend the following: A. Fold existing industrial zones into fewer, broader zones. B. Allow greater flexibility of permitted uses in industrial/employment zones. C. Simplify the rezoning process. D. Consider rezoning all waste management parcels. If the Islands Trust is going to spend our tax money on reports then don't let them just sit on a shelf and collect dust. In my opinion these recommendations should be implemented. I really do think this is a watershed case similar to the coffee company rezoning application a few years ago. The island seems to be on a gentrification path with no limit to spending other peoples tax money. Seems to me no one wants to pay but everyone want big city services. If John really want to be zoned commercial we should be encouraging him with open arms. John's tax bill will go from the $1200 or so he pays now to approx $3000 per year. Out of the 1200 home based business on the island that do not pay commercial tax I would guess John is the only one trying to re zone to commercial. Seems ironic that a business that won small business of the year and is begging to pay more tax is getting a hard time. If this is turned down Salt Spring will again be telling the country we are closed for business. How many other would be investors will get on the next ferry off the island and not even look at the Vesuvius pub or Fulford Hotel. I encourage everyone who is going to the meeting to actually drive up to 440 Rainbow Road and check John's business out personally. Don't just read what othe

John Quesnel's business saves Salt Spring a couple of million dollars a year in recycling costs. His yard and buildings are a model for this type of business, and can only give offense to the self-absorbed. Since John is by far the biggest dollar value benefactor the island has ever known, it is the height of bureaucratic malfeasance to be hassling him at all. The man richly deserves a large annual six figure sum from the rest of us for his benefaction. Instead, he faces what can only be called vicious persecution.

Best provide John with anything he asks! He contributes to our Island more than most!

I completely support John Quesnel's Metal Recycling. He provides a very important service to our community that will be sorely missed if shut down, and he has always been a fair and community minded citizen.

Ms Moroz would like you to believe that I affect her life in way that is unbearable but the truth is she rents at the very end of Pallot way in the old Luke Harrison house and has a bookkeeping business in Ganges that would have her at work during business hours. My business only operates from 8 till 5 during the week and 10 till 4 on Saturday. I do nothing business related outside of those times. Many of you may not know who Luke was but he was one of the CHARACTERS of Salty in the day. Right in Ms Moroz’s back yard is Luke’s old auto wrecking yard; there are still approximately 20 old vehicles there resting in pieces leaking and rotting into the ground. I was told he squished cars there several times way back when. He also had a laundromat on this same property. There is not a snowballs chance in hell that she is disrupted by my operation in any way, this is a personal vendetta that she will not let go much like Andrew Gardener. Mr Gardener owns the corner lot on the right side of the Pallot Way intersection. There is a brick building on the lot that is clearly visible from the road; this building was the location for Pallot Electric and was used for a commercial business. Mr. Gardener currently has the same building rented out for commercial use as a Woodworkers shop. I hear them working from my recycling yard and no I don’t complain at all. It would be well within my rights to complain to the Islands Trust and have them shut down this operation yet I understand that we need these sorts of businesses so why make it tough for the renter to spite the person causing me harm. Ms Moroz states that it is a valued business and it’s only the location that is so wrong. The thing is there is no place that I can just move to and go to work. Every single one of the prospective lots identified by the Islands Trust would require rezoning. My property, as well as my angry neighbours’ property, is located less than 600 meters from the highest level of industrial zoned land

My buisness makes use of this serivice, when I drive up to Johns place to recycle stuff, I don;t feel like I am entering a prestine, sleepy suburb, or vacation getaway. I pass a cement plant, the access road the community recycle place, a steel shed building containing a glass shop and a rental place with a ton of tools outside, and several industrial style barns, oh, and the power lines humming over head.... If there is a better location on this ISland for this buiseness, I just don;t see it.

This business IS where it should be, there is not a better location!

*(I'd posted this as a reply to John's comment but it doesn't unfold on the main page so I've re-posted it here as a comment.)* John, I feel no strong need to defend nor explain myself to you but, you have put 'this' out 'here', and for the benefit of those reading, I do feel the need to reply with my truth. I'm afraid, far too often, the only side of the story that gets heard, is yours. This does not have anything to do with our history. Period. I refuse to engage in that story publicly again. This has everything to do with defending my neighbourhood and standing up for what I believe is right. I have lived and owned property here on SaltSpring Island for over 22 years. Yes, it's true, I do rent my home on Pallot Way and have done so for the past 20 years. This is where I raised my family. This is the home and neighbourhood my children grew up in. We moved to the neighbourhood when my daughter was 3 and she just moved out last week at 23. This will still be her home to come home to for some time to come. I have no intention of going anywhere. I love my home. I love my neighbourhood. I have every right to defend it. I have the right to stand with my neighbours. Whether across the street, down the road, on the other side of the island or half way around the world I have the right, a responsibility, to stand with those that I feel are being treated unjustly. I think it's rather presumptuous of you to assume you know what does or does not affect my daily life and how I do or do not feel. Of what my 'rights' are. You presume too much. I can't imagine any one more qualified or motivated to stand with my neighbours than myself. You belabour the point that there are no suitably zoned properties on SaltSpring Island to carry out your business. So how does that make 440 Rainbow Road the right place; by default? No. It doesn't. If anything it bolsters the argument that it's just as wrong a place as every other property on the island. You offer the proximity

John, I feel no strong need to defend nor explain myself to you but, you have put 'this' out 'here', and for the benefit of those reading, I do feel the need to reply with my truth. I'm afraid, far too often, the only side of the story that gets heard, is yours. This does not have anything to do with our history. Period. I refuse to engage in that story publicly again. This has everything to do with defending my neighbourhood and standing up for what I believe is right. I have lived and owned property here on SaltSpring Island for over 22 years. Yes, it's true, I do rent my home on Pallot Way and have done so for the past 20 years. This is where I raised my family. This is the home and neighbourhood my children grew up in. We moved to the neighbourhood when my daughter was 3 and she just moved out last week at 23. This will still be her home to come home to for some time to come. I have no intention of going anywhere. I love my home. I love my neighbourhood. I have every right to defend it. I have the right to stand with my neighbours. Whether across the street, down the road, on the other side of the island or half way around the world I have the right, a responsibility, to stand with those that I feel are being treated unjustly. I think it's rather presumptuous of you to assume you know what does or does not affect my daily life and how I do or do not feel. Of what my 'rights' are. You presume too much. I can't imagine any one more qualified or motivated to stand with my neighbours than myself. You belabour the point that there are no suitably zoned properties on SaltSpring Island to carry out your business. So how does that make 440 Rainbow Road the right place; by default? No. It doesn't. If anything it bolsters the argument that it's just as wrong a place as every other property on the island. You offer the proximity to other businesses on Rainbow Road as a rationale for permit approval yet Fraser's Auto Repair, a long est

The service that John Quesnel provides on SaltSpring Island is invaluable. It is needed to keep the island healthy. If this company is gone, residents could start hiding their junk cars away in the bush again, or rolling them off Mount Maxwell. How healthy is that for the environment?