Rossland City Council meetings, January 6, 2020
By Sara Golling
Rossland City Council Meetings, January 6, 2020
Zoning decisions; changes about garbage; revised costs for arena work; have your say about a public washroom downtown
Present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Dirk Lewis, Janice Nightingale, Stewart Spooner, Chris Bowman, and Andy Morel. Absent: Scott Forsyth
1. Public Hearing on three zoning amendment bylaws: zoning for cannabis micro-processing, and for rezoning 1875 LeRoi Avenue, and for rezoning 105 Granite Road at Red.
No one expressed opinions, though a couple referred to a letter they had written.
2. Regular Council Meeting:
Public Input Period: No one spoke.
By-laws:
a) By-law # 2709: to allow for Cannabis Processing (both micro-processing and standard processing) in Rossland’s M-1 Light Industrial Zone. A motion to give third reading to the by-law CARRIED unanimously, as did a motion to adopt the by-law.
b) By-law # 2714 to re-zone 1875 LeRoi Avenue to permit short-term rental of rooms; a motion to give the by-law third reading FAILED, with only Nightingale voting in favour. Morel and Moore both raised the problem of traffic issues – cars backing out, sometimes across both lanes of traffic, so near a sharp curve. They also thought the claim of five parking spaces for the property was unrealistic, especially in winter, and more vehicles would be too likely to interfere with pedestrian use of the sidewalk.
c) By-law # 2715 to re-zone 105 Granite Road from Detached Residential Rural to Resort Rural Residential, to allow for short-term rentals, managed by a property manager. The motion to give third reading to the bylaw CARRIED unanimously.
d) By-law 2717 to change the zoning of 1920 Third Avenue (the former “Emcon lot”) from M-1 (Light Industrial) to Comprehensive Development, allowing for a mixed-use building, potentially with City Hall on the main floor and housing units on the upper three floors, subject to a list of required conditions.
A motion to give the by-law first and second readings, and to schedule a Public Hearing for February 3, CARRIED unanimously.
Staff Reports and Updates:
1. Winter Carnival Request; a motion to grant the requests CARRIED unanimously.
2. Solid Waste Collection Review; a motion to move toward garbage collection every two weeks CARRIED unanimously. A further motion to have Staff investigate the option of centralized, bear-proof bins in town, for use between collection days, also CARRIED unanimously. Composting can help reduce the amount of garbage; the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary has a page of very helpful advice on its website: https://www.rdkb.com/Services/EnvironmentalPrograms/WasteManagement/Composting.aspx
Council also agreed that the City will continue with “pay as you throw” – i.e., using stickers so that a household’s cost of disposal is partially determined by how much garbage they generate – and will continue with manual collection, and a charge on utility bills. Spooner moved that the City continue doing spring clean-up, and continue using a hügelkultur site; CARRIED unanimously. Moore also noted that the report had talked about how people need to place their garbage cans a bit back from the street for pick-up during the winter, to be out of the way of snowplows and the snow they fling so forcefully.
3. Report on the City’s Corporate Management Plan; a motion to work on a parking strategy for downtown as “phase one” and the next phase extend to the parking straegyfor other areas, CARRIED. Lewis emphasized that people should be encouraged to avoid parking vehicles downtown.
4. Climate Action Update; the report shows that Rossland’s “corporate” emissions, tracked since 2012, peaked in 2016, and by 2018 dropped back to the 2012 level – Moore reminded everyone that it did indicate improvement, as there are now more households in Rossland than there were in 2012. Transportation accounts for the largest amount of emissions, followed by residential heating and cooling.
5. Arena facility capital upgrades update provided updated figures for the preferred upgrades on the arena. When the engineering work is completed and the project is tendered, Staff will bring back a report to Council – probably later in the spring — on the cost to complete the work. If Council votes to approve the expenditure, the City will award the project and work will begin.
6. Task List, for review.
7. Members Reports:
Morel — RDKB: Fire Service is concerned that servicing crashes on the highway between Paulson Summit and Castlegar and Rossland is complicated by the lack of cell service along much of that route. Liquid Waste Management: Rossland’s contribution to the total flows has remained lower than originally estimated, at about 19%. If that continues, our share of the cost of the treatment plant will be slightly lower than originally estimated as well. [Editor’s Note: If Rosslanders take fewer or shorter showers, don’t run the faucet while brushing teeth, fix dripping faucets and leaking toilets, and otherwise avoid wasting water … it all helps!]
Moore: On Thursday, January 9, there will be a public meeting at the Miners Hall from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm about the location of a public washroom for downtown: https://www.facebook.com/events/1229847967202407/
Mayor Moore then recessed the meeting to an in camera session, and your reporter plodded and shuffled home along the snowy sidewalks and streets, looking forward to more snow accumulation — at the ski hill and in the backcountry — and hoping it will continue to build up in the forests.
