The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Business owner Dave Gunn hopes to pull the trigger on a deal to turn a vacant lakeside lot into a retail and residential complex. He has approached city council about purchasing the Island Drive lot behind the Oreland Motel, the former site of the Ross Lake Curling Rink. 'The whole point of this building is that everything I own will be inside it, out of sight, safe and out of the weather,' Gunn told council at their meeting last week. Gunn said the proposed building would house his business, Gunn Sound and Light, which is currently located on Main St. but requires storage at other sites. The two-storey steel building _ measuring 120 ft. by 50 ft. _ would also contain residential space in which Gunn and his wife would live. The first storey would feature Gunn's tent-rental and retail businesses, as well as some residential space. The entire second storey would be residential. 'It's a pretty ambitious thing, but it will be everything that we need,' Gunn told council. Gunn said concerns that the area would be littered with Sea-Can storage units are unfounded, as he would keep all of his assets in the building and rid himself of his other storage needs. He said the building will be clean and 'look good,' though, situated behind the Oreland, it won't really be visible from the main road. 'It's not going to be like big trucks pulling in. That's not like that at all,' Gunn said. Noting that the lot presently generates no income for the city, Mayor George Fontaine said council would discuss Gunn's interest in the land. If approval is given, Gunn expects construction would likely begin next spring. Adjacent to Ross Lake, the property was home to the Ross Lake Curling Rink until the 60-year-old building's demolition in 2001. Lot options While Gunn has plans for one vacant city lot, another resident hopes council will look at options for others. Appearing before council, Robin Springer suggested empty residential lots be offered to neighbouring homeowners at a reduced rate. This, he said, would bring the city new tax income and free it from maintaining those lots. 'I was thinking since the message of the last two months has been saving money for the city, why aren't we doing something with some of these lots?' Springer told council. Coun. Colleen McKee welcomed the suggestion, calling it a 'good idea,' while Mayor George Fontaine said the matter would be discussed further. Mayor Fontaine said some empty city-owned lots are already being sold to neighbours. 'What's been happening more than anything is that people are buying them and, say, putting a garage next to their home,,' he said. But selling vacant lots can sometimes produce new challenges, in Coun. Bill Hanson's view. 'One of the problems is, if we sell a lot in the middle of say, 200 houses, to somebody and they just want it for storage, well now we have all of the complaints about 'now we've got skidoos, cars, the weeds are all growing up,'' he said. 'You talk about maintaining lots, well we've got how many homeowners in town that don't maintain what they've got now?' Coun. Hanson acknowledged the city has a bylaw to ensure lots are maintained, but he said it also employs a bylaw enforcement officer who is 'run off his feet.'
