Council Matters: Rossland City Council Meeting, November 4, 2024
By Sara Golling
Talking about DCCs; also, about that proposed open-pit mine and whether the City should be “neutral” about it; Centennial Trail improvements (we hope); initial draft of 5-year Plan and its scary numbers; and more . . .
PRESENT:
Council: Mayor Andy Morel and Councillors Stewart Spooner, Craig Humpherys, Maya Provençal, Jeff Weaver and Lisa Kwiatkowski. Absent: Eliza Boyce
Staff: Chief Administrative Office Bryan Teasdale, Deputy Corporate Officer Cynthia Añonuevo, Manager of Recreation & Events Kristi Calder, Manager of Operations and Infrastructure Scott Lamont, and Deputy Operations Manager Josh Solman. (Executive Assistant Rachel Newton came in briefly before the meeting started, to assist with setting up electronics.)
PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD:
There were only two people in the gallery: Melanie Mercier and Frank Conradie. Mercier spoke to urge Council to approve the request for City support for the “Save Record Ridge Action Committee” (SRRAC) event at the Miners Hall on November 7, billed as a fundraising and information-sharing event to bring interested Rosslanders up to date on the application by a Calgary company for an open-pit mine on Record Ridge. She explained that SSRAC was formed in 2023 and registered in 2024. A lawyer from West Coast Environmental Law has been assisting the group. Mercier fears that a permit for the open-pit mine could be issued as early as next month and wants people to be aware.
DELEGATION:
The Rossland Curling Club
Frank Conradie provided an update on the club’s outstanding year of operation, including its finances. He noted that the last season was a record for the group, but that time would tell whether it was so good because of last winter’s low snow levels, or “because of our awesomeness.” He spoke about the renovations the club completed, thanks to many volunteers; he credited local architect Dimitri Lesniewicz for showing them “how the place could look.”
POLICIES, BYLAWS: Nil.
STAFF REPORTS & UPDATES:
BC Ministry of Transportation Active Transportation Grant:
A motion to authorize a grant application to improve the Centennial Trail, and to confirm that the City meets the requisite conditions for the grant, CARRIED unanimously. The plan is to re-route parts of the Centennial Trail so they are beside, instead of on, public roadways, and to pave parts of it, and to reduce the grade on the hill beside the water treatment plant. The goal is to improve the accessibility of the trail.
Discussion: Morel asked if there is any chance of adding lighting; Lightbourne responded, “Not yet.” She explained that just installing conduits for possible future lighting would add $150,000 to the cost. She said, “It’s on the radar, but not for this grant.” Provençal noted that a project in Sparwood shows that lighting can be retrofitted. Humpherys asked if there is a timeline for paving the northern section of the trail; Lightbourne answered that it would be done “as we can manage it.” Humpherys also wondered how the paving would affect snow quality on the trail for cross-country skiing – whether it will make snow melt faster. The answer: “Time will tell.”
2025 – 2029 Five-year Financial Plan – Initial Capital Overview:
Council perused the DRAFT plan and asked clarifying questions; Kwiatkowski queried the amount budgeted for a snow blower and why the City needs one. Lamont explained that it is a replacement for one that is becoming too expensive to maintain, and explained its function for clearing Rossland’s roads of heavy accumulations.
Spooner questioned some of the amounts in the DRAFT plan; Kennedy explained that this is early in the planning process, and many of the figures are put in as “place-holders” pending further information, and Teasdale explained the need to get information out to the community about future needs and their anticipated costs.
Kwiatkowski wants to know what the City’s priorities are before making more major spending decisions. Humpherys expressed uncertainty about what guidance is being sought from Council; Kennedy responded that he wants to know if there are items Councillors think are missing from the DRAFT plan, or if Council has other priorities.
Teasdale reiterated that the plan will be refined as needed, and noted that priorities can change.
Spooner acknowledged that “it’s scary” to contemplate all the future needs and their costs.
FOR INFORMATION ONLY:
Primer on Development Finance Tools — Development Cost Charges and Amenity Cost Charges
CFO Mike Kennedy provided a discussion of the different ways for municipalities to help cover the added expenses to the community of new development, including DCCS and ACCs, and the pros and cons of each, summarized on pages 43 to 46 of the materials for this meeting. For a brief explanation by the BC government, try this link:
Kennedy explained that DCCs are applicable only in certain circumstances, and that putting them in place can be complex and expensive, the main expense being engineers’ reports.
Provençal said she favours using DCCs to help cover the additonal costs of added infrastructure to serve new development; Spooner expressed agreement. Kwiatkowski wants to know the cost of the process of implementing DCCs.
Lightbourne commented that the City cannot currently support much infill development in the “old town” because of inadequate infrastructure.
DCCs in Rossland’s recent history:
For Letters to the Editor on the topic of DCCs in Rossland, written by local resident Ken Holmes in early 2009, click here and also here. For a couple of interesting accounts of an earlier Council’s discussions around DCCs – and the repeal in early 2012 of a former bylaw enabling DCCs – click here to read one story, and/or this link.
Provençal had to leave the meeting at 7:30.
RCMP Third-quarter Mayors’ Report:
This report summarizes the numbers and types of incidents dealt with by the RCMP for each of the first three quarters of the current and previous year, for Trail, Fruitvale, Montrose, Warfield, Rossland, and the RDKB. Scanning the report reveals variations from quarter to quarter and from year to year. Your reporter saw one notable difference in Q3 from last year to this year, in both Rossland and Warfield: “Mental Health Related” calls in Rossland rose from 6 in Q3 of 2023 to 16 in Q3 of 2024. In Warfield, Q3 in 2023 had zero calls in that category, while Q3 in 2024 had nine calls. “Mental Health Related” calls in the RDKB were higher in this year’s third quarter, too: 36 for last year, and 53 for this year.
Kwiatkowski noted the “surge in mental health calls.”
Humpherys commented that downtown Trail “feels a bit better now” after establishment of some new housing.
REQUESTS ARISING FROM CORRESPONDENCE:
The not-for-profit “Save Record Ridge Action Committee” requests that the City support its efforts to raise public awareness of the proposed open-pit mine on Record Ridge by providing funding for its scheduled event on November 7 at the Miners Union Hall. The group is asking for $1,550, to cover rental of the Miners Hall, use of the City sign at Columbia and St. Paul, audio-visual equipment and some light refreshments; the City has discretionary funding available.
Discussion: Weaver said he had “major concerns” that supporting the request would compromise the City’s neutrality on the open-pit mine application., but he could agree to waiving the fee for using the Miners Hall.
Spooner echoed Weaver’s concern, and said that “supporting an activist group is taking a side” and doesn’t think it’s appropriate.
Humpherys pointed out that since Tourism Rossland will be presenting at the event, the City is already associated with taking a side.
Morel said he thinks the event is “an important opportunity for the community to be brought up to date” and that there has been no public process or public meeting as promised, and he’s grateful to SSRAC for working on this. He has spoken to Andras Lukacs, the Executive Director of Tourism Rossland, and knows that Lukacs is very concerned. Morel said he is not in favour of the mine and notes that the mine proposal changes “by the day” to avoid an Environmental Assessment. He is happy to grant the SSRAC request, minus the food expense.
A motion to provide the support as requested FAILED.
Weaver moved to support the event only by waiving the hall rental fee; his motion CARRIED.
MEMBERS’ REPORTS:
Councillors noted that they had participated in a strategic planning session. Weaver spoke about the LeRoi Foundation and its grants and bursaries.
Morel spoke about recent RDKB meetings, noting that the RDKB has hired a new Chief Financial Officer from Ontario. The RDKB has completed a new Accessibility Plan which it will share with all the municipalities in the region. Andras Kukacs of Tourism Rossland addressed the RDKB board with an update, and the board was pleased that Tourism Rossland will be expanding its focus to include more of the region.
THE MEETING RECESSED to an in camera session at 8:10 PM, and your reporter made her way home, bucking her little car out of the unplowed parking space and over a fat berm, delighting in the season’s first significant snowfall . . . and wondering whether the increase in mental health related calls to the RCMP in Q3 of this year over Q3 of last year has anything to do with anxiety about the election south of our border, or about the devastating and deadly climate-change-hyper-charged weather events around the world (car-destroying hailstorms! Car and life-destroying floods! Typhoons! Killer heat domes! Wildfires! — and so on. Just read the news, if you an stand it), or perhaps both, plus other, more local threats to our community well-being.
