Waste Water Improvement Project
Jamie Hodge, City Engineer seemed to indicate the actual final scope of the upgrades will not be known until the remaining 10 contracts have come in, as the ability to cover items within the confines of the budget must be taken into consideration.
Flooding issues on the South Hill have been referred to the Engineering Department and a report and recommendations on how to address the citizens’ concerns will be forthcoming at the next September meeting of Council.
Motion to go ahead with the Alternative Approval Process to extend the south City Boundary to include the Gold Creek Campus of College of the Rockies was carried. A rezoning amendment for an area close to the old Echo Field Raceway was also carried. . One resident asked for more detail about the proposed development. Councillor Whetham commented he thought this whole area needed a new overall plan as the Wildstone Development Plan had significantly changed.
Certainly a new overall plan would avoid piecemeal changes and give residents and business owners alike peace of mind concerning the continuity and future of their neighbourhood.
A rezoning issue in Slaterville created much discussion. After two presentations by neighbouring residents Council voted 4 to 3 to defeat the motion to adopt a Zoning Amendment Bylaw which would have allowed the division of a large lot in order to allow the building of a new residence. Traffic issues, road width and capacity of infrastructure were considered major impediments to this proposed development. Mayor Manjak broke the tie on this vote but was clear in his comments that this decision seemed contradictory to the discussions around infill development. As he pointed out this was a major point of debate at the time of the East Hill Expansion Alternative Approval process.
Both Councillor Wavrecan and Mayor Manjak also made it clear any change in the planning design of Slaterville will have to start with the residents.
It seems unfortunate that it must be the residents who initiate a planning process for this historic part of Cranbrook. It would seem the experts reside within City Hall and maybe if the initiative came from planners who have the facts about current and necessary infrastructure requirements, the residents would be more able and willing to participate in the process. No one resident of any part of our city could possibly be expected to have all the knowledge about ownership, expropriation issues or legal requirements to be able to even begin this process although most residents would wish to contribute their ideas. This initiative would seem a very daunting task. Considering this area was once the site of the Slater Sawmill and one of Cranbrook’s first economic generators, surely the catalyst for planning improvements for this significant part of town needs to come from our leaders. With a detailed visionary plan for the entire city, the renewal and design of one area might not be so onerous.
Deer
Again after lengthy discussion, Council voted 5 to 1 to go ahead with the Ministry’s recommended survey at the same time as a committee is formed to assess the situation. Councillor Whetham favoured shortening the survey and allowing the committee to come forward with the best options and recommendations for dealing with the problem, before the choice of options is given to the residents, as some of the options in the survey may not be suitable or possible for Cranbrook. The survey will be on line, hopefully by September 1st and a computer will be set up at City Hall for those who do not otherwise have access to one.
Footnote - repeat information from August 9th
The document Urban Ungulate Conflict Analysis, Urban Ungulates Summary Report from the Ministry of the Environment may be of interest to many residents.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/info/wildlife_human_interaction/UrbanUngulates.html
It is a long document but it does outline other community experiences as well as possible management solutions. Of particular interest are pages 30 and 31 where a table shows a summary of Population Reduction and Fertility Control Options. Also of interest on page 6 is the Canadian and US Overview demonstrating experiences of different cities and municipalities that have already tried to deal with this same problem. Their experiences are dealt with in more detail within the document appendices
Round Table Comments
There were many positive comments including Councillor Schatschneider’s about the improved visual impact of our city.
Councillors seemed very happy to have met Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
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