April is Communities in Bloom month
Myrna Matthews led a delegation before council outlining the work Mission’s Communities in Bloom committee has done in the past, including the provincial and national awards it has won.
Following the presentation, Mayor Ted Adlem said, “I know mayor and council appreciate very much all of your efforts and the time that you put into making our community one of the most beautiful communities in Canada.”
April was designated Communities in Bloom month in Mission, and the committee was granted permission to use picture cuttings of Mission’s official flower, the Caitlin Rhododendron.
Each councillor and the mayor was presented with the gift of a small cedar tree to plant.
Recreation areas closed during Ruskin Dam upgrades
An article about the delegation led by BC Hydro’s Judy Dobrowolski and construction manager Bob Peever appeared in the March 29 edition of the Mission Record and you can read it right here.
Some of the details that were not mentioned in the article have been added below.
BC Hydro filed its application to the BC Utilities Commission on Feb. 22, 2011 to begin a six-year construction project on the Ruskin Dam beginning sometime in the Spring of 2012. Hydro anticipates approval by the commission in April and construction will begin immediately. In the interim, there are a number of things Hydro has done in preparation.
• The overhead distribution line has been relocated underground to facilitate the height of the equipment
• Geotechnical drilling to provide a specific profile of the bedrock underneath the ground
• Jet grout trial program that began last Friday to verify design and construction assumptions
• Bird netting has been installed on the concrete structure of the dam to prevent nesting
• Brush clearing
• Spillway gate number five is undergoing repairs
Mayor and council were invited to the dam to tour the facility and get an overview of the construction project.
Music festival organizers ask for Mission council’s help
This story appeared in the March 29 edition of the Mission Record and you can read it right here.
A plethora of public hearings
The following public hearings received uneventful approvals:
• An application by Konrad von Hardenberg to amend the official community plan on a portion of four properties on Sylvia Avenue and Judith Street from Urban Residential to Urban Residential Compact was approved 7-0 for second and third reading by council.
• Four separate applications of those four properties on Sylvia Avenue (by Konrad Hardenberg, Peter and Paula Laslo, Dan Renaud, and Mark Lewis) to rezone the properties to facilitate the creation of two additional lots fronting Egglestone Avenue were then each approved 7-0 for second and third reading by council.
• An application by Gary Toor of Mil-Kai Investments Ltd. to rezone 33835 Knight Ave. and 8135 Stave Lake St. to facilitate a 17-lot residential subdivision was approved 7-0 for third reading by council.
• An application by Anton Simor of Simoran Enterprises Ltd. to rezone a property at 9376 Cedar St. to facilitate the creation of a five lot rural residential subdivision was approved 7-0 for third reading by council.
Valley Christian school approved on Cedar Street
A development application by Valley Christian School received second and third reading at a public hearing Monday that would see them move into a new facility on Cedar Street between Rosetta and Tunbridge.
The school was relocated last year to portables set up at Cedar and Dewdney Trunk Road for the 2011-12 school year from its old location at Cedar and Cherry because their lease expired and the buildings were demolished.
The application calls for Phase Two of the Cedar Valley Official Community Plan (OCP) to be amended from Suburban to Institutional Education to accommodate the school, rather than the townhomes called for under the current plan.
The new 1.3 acre site will house a 7-classroom school with washrooms, storage rooms, a multi-purpose room, front reception area, administrative offices, first-aid room, and a chapel.
The district would actually gain $26,241 in development cost charges by approving the rezoning, though Coun. Jenny Stevens said she wishes the school had found a location other than Cedar Valley.
“It’s clearly to the benefit of the community to have this school. My worry is about where it is, and to some extent when it is,” she said, explaining it’s a little premature to amend Phase Two of the OCP when the first phase has yet to be completed.
Phase One of the OCP called for high density development along Cedar Street in order to fund the second phase of development in Cedar Valley.
But Paul Burns, chairman of Valley Christian’s board of directors, said that he enquired about leasing or purchasing public schools which have been closed by the province and are currently in disuse, such as Ferndale and Fraserview, but was turned down.
Coun. Dave Hensman said a school and two churches already exist on Cedar Street and a variety of uses should be approved.
Council voted 7-0 to move the application past second and third reading.
Valley Christian currently has about 100 students enrolled.
Council rejects Cedar Valley townhouse proposal
This story appeared in the March 29 edition of the Mission Record and you can read it right here.
