COUNCIL MATTERS: Rossland City Council Meeting, June 3, 2024
How much do we value conservation of nature? Canada Day Celebrations at the Museum again; Rotary putting on “Run for the Rest of Us” at Jubilee Field; Golden City Days, the Fall Fair, and Huck’en Berries on track for fall; how much discretion in enforcing bylaws?
PRESENT:
Mayor Andy Morel and Councillors Stewart Spooner, Craig Humpherys, Eliza Boyce (virtual), Maya Provençal, and Lisa Kwiatkowski. Absent: Jeff Weaver.
Staff: Deputy Corporate Officer Cynthia Añonuevo, Executive Assistant Rachel Newton, Chief Financial Officer Mike Kennedy, Manager of Recreation & Events Kristi Calder, and Manager of Operations and Infrastructure Scott Lamont.
PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD:
Michael Ramsey spoke on a topic he had raised a year earlier: a neighbour’s fence that is over the height allowed in the bylaw, and was built on City Property; and another fence that is also higher than permitted in the bylaw. He objected to the bylaw officer declining to intervene, and said that the effect was that the bylaw officer is unilaterally allowing a variance for the fence height and also allowing the appropriation of City property. He asks that the City enforce the applicable bylaws.
DELEGATION: Kootenay Conservation Program (KCP)
Program Director Juliet Craig provided information about the KCP and invited Council to consider taking steps to establish a local Fund Service.
The KCP is a partnership of 85 organizations, including the Rossland Society for Environmental Action (RSEA), the Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network (CBEEN), Central Kootenay Invasive Species Society (CKISS), and Columbia Basin Trust. The partnership works to “protect clean water, conserve important wildlife habitat, and steward the land to allow for healthy, functioning ecosystems in the East and West Kootenays.” It finds ways to help landowners steward their land, and works to acquire lands for conservation.
Craig described how the KCP raises funds and how decisions are made about their use. In 2006, the East Kootenay Conservation Program (which expanded in 2014 to become the Kootenay Conservation Program) conducted a referendum asking homeowners if they would be willing to pay a parcel tax of $20 per parcel per year, to fund conservation; the referendum passed. Similar referendums have also passed in the RDCK. Different areas have agreed to different levels of funding.
One of the advantages of the partnership and the creation of local conservation funds is that it enables funding to be leveraged — making more grant funding available for projects to benefit local areas.
The KCP works to alleviate the administrative burden on local governments who are involved, and they apply a modest 9% of funds raised for administration.
BYLAWS
Council Procedure Bylaw # 2809:
A motion to adopt the bylaw CARRIED unanimously.
Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 2838 — 2253 Washington Street:
Council voted unanimously to give first and second readings to the bylaw, subject to a condition that sufficient parking is provided on the property, and to hold a Public Hearing on the matter on July 8, 2024.
The applicant is asking that the property be rezoned from C-3 Commercial Resort Accommodation/Commercial to C-1 Commercial Downtown Core, to allow a ground-floor medical clinic which is not permitted under the current zoning. The building has been used for short-term rental of four units, plus a main house and parking garages.
Kwiatkowski asked whether there are limits on the types of business that could be carried on in the building; Calder answered that the zoning bylaw governs that.
OTHER BUSINESS:
2024 Province of British Columbia’s Infrastructure Planning Grant Proposal:
A motion CARRIED unanimously, to develop and submit a proposal seeking funding to host a continuing education event on Natural Asset Management (NAM) in partnership with the Natural Asset Initiative and Engineers and Geoscientists BC.
REQUESTS:
The Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre requests permission to hold a Canada Day celebration on July 1, 2024, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Rossland, Rossland Golden City Lions Club, the Golden City Fiddlers and the Gold Fever Follies, and the usual contributions and support from the City, which will cost the City approximately $500. A motion to approve the request CARRIED unanimously.
Rossland Rotary Club requests permission to hold a “Run for the Rest of Us” event at Jubilee Field on July 20, 2024. A motion to approve the event, with all the usual conditions including clean-up and insurance, CARRIED unanimously.
Golden City Days, Fall Fair, and Huck’n’Berries; motions to allow the following all CARRIED unanimously:
The closure of 3rd Avenue from West of 2253 3rd Avenue to the Arena parking lot from 8am on Friday, September 6th until 7pm on Saturday, September 7th for Golden City Days events;
A noise exemption for amplified music to take place on the corner of Third Avenue and Spokane Street from 5pm-10pm Friday, September 6th and 9am-8pm Saturday, September 7th;
The use of the Jubilee Street, Washington Avenue, 2nd Avenue and Monte Christo Street on Saturday, September 7th beginning at 10:30am for parade events with traffic management;
And the use of Centennial Trail and Trailhead on Sunday, September 8th for Golden City Days race events;
The closure of Spokane Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue from 8am to 6pm on Saturday, September 7th for Fall Fair events be approved.
Use of the Centennial Dirt Jump Park on Saturday, September 7th for Huck en’ Berries event.
MEMBER REPORTS:
Spooner had attended a meeting of the Recreation Master Plan Implementation group.
Provençal had attended a meeting of the Bear Smart Task Force, and the RDKB Waste Management group.
Morel has also attended the Bear Smart and Waste Management meetings. He reported that he had opened the “Joie de Vivre” event, but unfortunately showery weather had a dampening effect on attendance. He commended the organizers and said he hoped they would do it again.
Morel as invited to attend a conference on Rural Economic Development at Niagara-on-the-Lake, which he attended virtually. The topic was the Rural & Northern Immigration Pilot Program, and Morel spoke of the program’s – and several of Rossland’s new residents’ – successes.
Morel will be attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) convention in Calgary as the guest of the FCM, as he was invited to be a panelist to speak about the Rossland Yards/City Hall project, and about Rossland’s sustainability programs, including the Rossland Retrofit Assist program.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM, and your reporter made her way home in a lovely sunlit, rain-washed evening that smelled of lilacs and smoke.
