City of Nanaimo responds to Snuneymuxw rezoning opposition

STATEMENT - Distributed May 24, 2023 3:47 PM

Snuneymuxw First Nation (SFN) issued a statement on Friday, May 19 opposing the rezoning of the former Howard Johnson Hotel site. The City's response is as follows:

As this is an active rezoning application that is currently before Council, there is little we can say with respect to the specifics of the proposal. The City fully understands that this privately owned land is located within the area of a significant ancestral village site for SFN. For that reason, we shared the rezoning proposal with SFN at our Staff-to-Staff Technical Working Group in March 2022, before our formal application referral to the Nation in April 2022.

We understand that the developer and SFN continue to have discussions regarding the development of this site and we encourage those conversations to continue. The City has followed the legislative process, as set out by the Province, for the processing and consideration of this rezoning application. There will be no further public communication on this matter at this time.

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