The District of Sparwood council met on July 21, 2020 to discuss a number of important issues within the community.
Two bylaw amendments were adopted during the meeting, the Business Licence Amendment Bylaw and the Traffic, Parking, and Highways Regulations Bylaw. The business licence bylaw amendment establishes guidelines for the approval of temporary retail and patio spaces on municipal land. With summer time and physical distancing both upon us, this amendment should help council make decisions regarding the usage of outdoor space.
The second bylaw amendment that was adopted was, according to council documents, “in support of the provision allowing businesses to use public sidewalks, land and roads for the development of a temporary patio or retail.” These two bylaws should help businesses owners to expand their spaces for the time being.
A delegation from TC energy was also part of the July 21 council meeting. Preston Seler and Muyami Murabayashi provided council with an overview and updates on the proposed West Path 2022 and West Path 2023 projects. The proposed project would have three main sections, one of which will consist of approximately 5.8 kilometres of pipeline located near Coleman, Alberta.
According to the presentation by Seler and Murabayashi, the projects will not create significant adverse socio-economic effects on the nearby communities since the construction and operation activities are fairly low scale.
After council heard the presentation from delegates, more business was discussed.
Councillors approved recommendations from a report of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program that will allow staff to work towards upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant. Staff will apply for $1.5 million in funding, will allocate $50,000 from sewer reserves for the development of project design and planning documents and will also prepare a borrowing bylaw that will allocate $600,000 in support of the grant application.
Finally, District of Sparwood councillors discussed the potential of applying for the Community, Culture and Recreation program with Infrastructure Canada for the development of a multi-purpose facility. In the end, council decided not to apply for the grant now and instead wait until further community consultation has been completed.
The next meeting of council will take place on August 18, 2020.
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