Castlegar city council had its first committee of the whole meeting this week. Several months ago council made the decision to switch from each individual committees of two to three councillors and staff meeting separately to all committees meeting at once and hearing all topics together at the same time.
The meeting lasted about three hours before adjourning to an in-camera session that was then followed by the regular council meeting. Most of the councillors present felt the meeting went well.
During the meeting, council had a lively discussion on recreational cannabis bylaws before settling on a list of recommendations that will now be developed into bylaws.
READ THE FULL STORY: Laid-back cannabis regulations for Castlegar
They also directed staff to go to a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to fires burning in the city during the fire ban, meaning there will be no more warnings — violators will get fines.
Geese be gone
Council also heard a report from civic works director Lucas Pitts who gave an overview of the city’s attempts to control the goose problem at Millennium Park.
The Millennium Ponds have had to be closed a few times already this year due to high bacteria levels, and the soccer fields and beach are cluttered with droppings.
The city has tried banners, dogs and drones to discourage the geese, but these deterrents have only worked temporarily. They discussed options on how to deal with the situation from fencing to artificial grass at the soccer field.
The committee of the whole will continue to meet Monday afternoons prior to the regularly scheduled council meetings.
Grants
Later at the regular council meeting several grants were approved.
• The Castlegar Golf Club and RV Park received $500 to assist with hosting their 50th anniversary golf tournament.
• The Castlegar Hospice Society received $300 to assist with the costs of hosting their 10th annual rock golf tournament.
• The Castlegar Hockey Society received $800 to assist with facility rental costs.
Licenses and Permits
Business licences are up slightly from the same time last year. So far this year, 639 licenses have been issued compared to 628 in 2017.
Building permits are down year-to-date from last year. So far in 2018 $3.76 million worth of permits have been issued compared to $4.48 million last year.
Almost two-thirds of the dollar value of the permits for this year has come from new single family dwellings.
Housing needs assessment
Council awarded City Spaces Consultants a $20,979 contract to develop a housing needs assessment for the city.
The intent of the assessment is to provide council and staff a clear understanding of the city’s housing needs in order to provide data and background information for creating housing policy, for speaking to developers and for the city or other housing organizations to have clear documentation when applying for housing grants.
The city is funding $5,000 of the contract and Columbia Basin Trust is funding the remaining amount.
