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Chamber gets park deadline

Fort Smith council dismisses Conibear support for Chamber

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services


Fort Smith (Feb 03/03) - The Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce thought it had found a way out of a dispute with town council over a building in Conibear Park.

The Chamber obtained the support of a Conibear family member in its bid to remain a registration and licensing agent for the Department of Transportation.

But town council is unmoved.

Council believes for-profit activity in the park violates a 1950s written agreement by which the Conibear family donated the land to the town. Under the agreement, the small park is to be used for the enjoyment of town residents, not for business purposes.

The chamber located Marilyn Conibear in Vancouver. She is the widow of Ken Conibear, who donated the land for the park to the town.

"Ken would be the first to acknowledge that things change," she wrote. "I feel very sure that he would have given his permission to change the use to a use for licensing and safety services to be situated in the chamber building in Conibear Park."

However, Mayor Peter Martselos says the letter doesn't alter council's position.

"It's not changing anything," Martselos says, referring to an order to the chamber to stop conducting business activity in the building.

The mayor says the agreement of the 1950s takes precedence, and he explains the town's zoning bylaws do not allow business activity on municipal parkland.

Martselos says the deadline of March 31 also remains for the chamber to stop its money-making activity.

Chamber president Fred Daniels says he had hoped the letter would help settle the matter, noting the town had said the registration and licensing activity could continue with the consent of the Conibear family.

"You do one thing that they ask and then they change the rules," Daniels said. "So you're back to square one."

The chamber president has now hand-delivered a letter to the mayor and council members requesting a meeting on Feb. 6 or 7 to have an open discussion about the dispute.

However, he still wonders what the "real issue" is behind council's opposition.

Daniels suspects politics may be involved because of his intention to run for mayor in the coming municipal election.