Hello everyone:

 What a beautiful spring day it is out there!  A few notes on Council doings, and then I'm off for a long walk.

In this message, there's information about what happened at the March 25 meeting, what is coming to Council on April 14, and also a couple of items that are coming on April 28 that I'd like to get your input on.

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARCH 25 MEETING:

Since I didn't provide a council update before the last meeting, I thought you might like to hear about a few of the things from that agenda:

• Caribou Properties presented the Town with a generous donation of $100,000 toward the pedestrian bridge, and a promise of $200,000 more for a second pedestrian bridge downstream.  This leaves the Town with $384,000 still to raise to reach the  $500,000 fundraising target.
• I provided an update on the work of the Bow River Basin Council, and especially on their draft plan for water quality in the Bow River.  You can see information about this plan on their website:  http://www.brbc.ab.ca/Bow%20Basin%20Watershed%20Management%20Plan%20Information%20Page.asp
• Council voted to spend up to $100,000 for an A-list Canadian band to provide a free concert on Banff Avenue in mid to late July, in order to celebrate the completion of the Banff Avenue reconstruction.  Councillor Macdonald and I voted against this motion.  Besides worrying about the cost, the impact on newly-planted landscaping, the impact on Banff Avenue merchants, and the effect of putting all the event dollars into one type of entertainment, I am concerned that it will reinforce an image of Banff as a "party town" that just happens to be in a mountain setting, rather than the image of Banff as the visitor base for the national park.  Perhaps I'm out to lunch, though, because I was assured by staff in the meeting that they have talked to Parks and Parks Canada has endorsed this concert as a good idea.  Other councillors and staff feel strongly that this is the right way to go, and I know they will put their best efforts into making it a successful event.
• The municipal assessor and Tom Maier did a great presentation on how assessment of property for tax purposes works.  This is something few people understand, and yet it's important to all property-owners -- I'm going to ask for their PowerPoint to be put up on the Town's website, because it's so educational.
• Council finished the amendments to the Business Licence Bylaw that were initiated as part of the Family Day Homes discussion.

WHAT'S COMING TO COUNCIL ON MONDAY?

It's a pretty light agenda, as you can see at http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1423

A few highlights:

• Banff, as a member of the Calgary Regional Partnership, is being asked to support a major funding request to the provincial government to plan for better transit connections between all the neighbouring municipalities in the region.  If the province provides the funding, this plan would help the Calgary area ensure that new development is transit-friendly, that locations for transit facilities and services are identified and protected, and that a governance model for regional transportation is in effect.  We probably won't be directly affected by this, because we're already working on our own regional transit commission, but it's certainly a good initiative to support, and will not require any funding from the Town of Banff. 

• Council is being asked to remove the "maximum amount' cap from building permit fees for single family and duplex housing.  You can see the report by going to http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1423  and scrolling down to page 30.  My initial feeling is that this could be phased in, rather than implemented all at once, but I have a list of questions to ask before I vote on this one.

• The colourful "wraps" for the new hybrid transit buses appear to cost more than the original estimate, and Council will be asked on Monday to approve the additional $12,200.  Parks Canada is kindly funding $45,000 of this project, because the wraps will be images of park wildlife, and there will be interpretive panels inside the buses.  You can see the full report at  http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1423   , scroll down to page 41

• There is a letter from Alberta Municipal Affairs on the agenda, committing to a grant of $75,000 from the provincial government to help with the organization of a Regional Transportation Authority.  You'll remember that this is the joint project with the town, Canmore and ID9, along with various stakeholder groups, organizing a regional transportation authority/commission.  Having an integrated system of public transportation throughout our region is so important -- it's great to see this project moving ahead.

FUTURE ITEMS OF INTEREST

The following items are scheduled to come to council on April 28:

• The Town's purchasing policy:  this is coming back because of a discussion we have had about how to interpret the section about purchasing goods or services from Council members, staff members, or their immediate family.  I feel very strongly that this automatically creates the potential for a conflict of interest, and that all such purchases should be subject to rigorous controls, that such purchases should be made public, and that we should avoid "single-sourcing" from a councillor or staff member.  Some other folks feel that I am over-reacting, that most such purchases do not result in conflicts of interest, and that purchases from Council members or staffers can be handled more or less the same way as all other purchases, except in highly unusual cases.  What do you think?  Is this an issue, or am I blowing it out of proportion?

• Wayfinding: the draft report for new directional signage will come to Council.

• Bylaw annual statistics and new uniform standards:  I'm curious to know what you think about bylaw officer uniforms.  Most enforcement agencies -- our own included -- have gone for dark uniforms (dark shirts, dark pants).  I'd like to see us return to light-coloured shirts.  I think lighter colours make the officers look friendlier and more approachable.  Do you agree?  Or are you happy with the darker uniforms?

• Parking downtown:  we'll be getting follow-up reports on the timelines and costs for the options that are still on the table -- increasing occupancy in Cascade, changing Bear Street over to 1-hour and 3-hour only, acquiring land to add a lot to the Beaver Street surface parking, etc.

• Pedestrian bridge update:  I expect staff will be reporting back on how the design work and the fundraising are going.

• Taxation rate:  finalizing the "mill rate" for residential and non-residential taxes.

THE FINE PRINT

It’s important to note that these council updates represent my personal opinion, and may not reflect the official position of the Town of Banff or Banff Town Council. 

You can unsubscribe at any time – just send me a reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Please feel free to pass these on to anyone you wish, or to send me the emails of people who would like to subscribe to this update.

People keep asking me what's in the "silver option" for the Rec Centre, or telling me that they've heard different things.  For those of you that don't have time for clicking through and waiting for the PDF to load, here is the list from the Town's website: 

Included:

• 2 ice surfaces
• a community gym
• leisure pool
• multi-purpose rooms
• walking track
• fitness and wellness facilities

Not included:

• curling sheets 

The capital cost is shown as 67.8 million, and the annual operating deficit at $925k.  If we take on 25 million in debt (that assumes we can find funding for 42.8 million), then the annual additional taxes to an average household (defined as an assessed value of $485K) are shown as $357, and $13,149 to an average commercial property (defined as an assessed value of $4.1 million).  The cost estimated for an annual membership to the new Rec Centre is shown as $639 for an individual, $1004 for a family.

The complete backgrounder can be seen at:

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=598 

Hello everyone:

TOWN’S PURCHASING POLICY

As part of my interest in matters financial, I’ve been looking at the town’s purchasing policy, and comparing practice with policy.  For those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, you can see the town’s purchasing policy here:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Purchasing+Policy.pdf

If you have any questions about it, I’d be happy to try to find answers for you!

TOMORROW’S COUNCIL MEETING

It looks like a pretty quiet Council meeting coming up tomorrow.  Here are some items on the agenda:

BRIEFING ON THE REC CENTRE FEASIBILITY WORK

By clicking here:

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1369

and scrolling down to page 9, you can read the report on what’s happening with the Recreation Centre project.  In brief:

·         a structural engineering report is underway, as is a design options/costs/phasing report, showing the opportunities for redevelopment and/or expansion.  We should see these back to Council in September 2008.

·         The Town is looking into the potential of acquiring more land around the existing rec centre from Parks Canada or CP, if this land should turn out to be needed.

·         The staff is applying for all applicable government grant programs and is working with the Banff Recreation Society on how to organize work around a funding strategy and capital campaign.  The Banff Recreation Society is a group of private citizens interested in making the project happen.

By the way, if you read that report, you will read the words “The Recreation Multiplex has been identified as both a Council and Administration priority for 2008”.  I’d just like to point out here that what Council identified as a priority was “ Recreation Centre Feasibility”.

If you’re interested in this project, it’s important for you to know that many council members and the staff are operating on the assumption that the community has already chosen the Silver option for the Rec Centre, which will cost approximately $67 million dollars to build, and around $900K per year to operate.  You can see more details on this project at:

http://www.banff.ca/locals-residents/recreation/new-recreation-centre.htm

As you probably know from the campaign, it is my personal opinion that we cannot afford to build or to operate a project with this cost level, although I definitely support a major renovation of the existing centre.  I am looking forward with interest to the engineering reports, to see what is possible.

If it looks as if we will be pushing ahead with the Silver option, I hope that more than 284 members of the community (that’s the number of people who provided input into the Silver option choice) will step up and have their say. 

BRIEFING ON THE WINTER FESTIVAL

A short report on the events of the 2007 Festival can bee seen by clicking on

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1369

and scrolling down to page 11.  It appears that both organizers and participants are happy with the present locals-oriented focus of the event.  Congratulations to all the volunteer organizers – it was a lot of fun, as always!

LIBRARY BOARD NEWS

You will probably have already seen in the paper the news that the Library has received a settlement of around $82,000 from Marigold, acknowledging Banff’s share in the joint assets.  This is great news for the library, as they’ve just spent a substantial amount on the new shelving, and this money will top up their funds.  Huge kudos to the library board, and to former councillor Justin Burwash, who represented them very ably in the negotiations with Marigold.

OTHER ITEMS

There will be delegations re Three Ski Areas Community Funding, and Ambulance Services, but there are no written reports in the package, so I’ll have to tell you about those later.

THE FINE PRINT

It’s important to note that these council updates represent my personal opinion, and may not reflect the official position of the Town of Banff or Banff Town Council. 

You can unsubscribe at any time – just send me a reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Please feel free to pass these on to anyone you wish, or to send me the emails of people who would like to subscribe to this update.

Warm best wishes to you all – enjoy this lovely sunny day!  Leslie

Unfortunately, one of my earlier posts has received more than 150 spam "comments" in the past 48 hours.  I'm trying to fix this problem by deleting the post and reproducing it here to keep the record complete.  We'll see if that works.

This is a post from just before the election, re going door to door on Beaver and Muskrat:

It was a glorious day for a walk yesterday.  I visited Beaver Street, most of Muskrat and a bit of Moose.

 It was also a great day for conversations! 

During the campaign, there has been some discussion about permanently pedestrianizing the 100 and 200 blocks of Banff Avenue.  Although — of course — I love the idea of pedestrian spaces, I’ve been concerned about what such a choice might do to the folks who live along Beaver Street.  This summer was a trial run of what their traffic would be like, so I had a chance to ask whether it has affected their lives.  The answer was a resounding yes.  One person told me that he was happy to put up with it for a summer for the good of Banff Avenue, but permanently — definitely not.  Even on Muskrat Street, it was possible to observe an increase in the amount and speed of traffic, as impatient drivers looked for a way around downtown.

Perhaps the best solution would be to close Banff Ave a few times a year for special events.  I also think that we will be amazed by how different the pedestrian experience will be there when the new sidewalks are opened up.

One question that arose today was about the design of the traffic light standards — and whether they might be a bit too “ladder-like”, encouraging drunken climbing contests. 

Other topics today: the rec centre, street maintenance and line painting, train whistles, debt, and affordable housing.

Hello everyone: 

Here are some quick notes on recent and upcoming happenings at Council.  As always, any opinions expressed here are mine alone, and do not represent the position of Council  or the Town of Banff.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

Here's what happened with various items on the agenda at the last Council meeting:

On the parking alternatives ...

• Parking on Bow Avenue:  council voted not to pursue this, because of the visual and safety impact on an important walking/scenic/recreational area.  However, the point was made that handicapped stalls may need to be in place.
• New surface lot by the hospital:  council voted not to pursue, because of the required tree removal and impact on the aesthetics of the area, and also because they weren't convinced that prospective users would be able/willing to find and use it to park for downtown.
• Increase directional signage for Cascade Plaza to increase use and move all 12-hour parking there:  this was approved, and administration will bring back the details.
• Change over Bear St parkade to all one- and three-hour spots:  approved
• Lease the high school parking lot in the summer:  this was approved for administration to investigate with the school district.
• Consider attempting to acquire the residence beside the Beaver Street lot for surface lot expansion:  this was approved, and administration will investigate this idea further and -- if it looks possible -- bring costs and timelines back to council.
• Promote car pooling:  council agreed that there is enough information out there about the virtues of car pooling, and that the main factors that convince people to do it are environmental concern and the cost of fuel.  Therefore, no additional money is going to be spent promoting it, but it will be mentioned as a good idea in town publications, etc wherever possible.  The idea of dedicated parking stalls for car poolers was discussed, but council felt they are too difficult to enforce.
• Take another look at pay parking:  council asked staff to update the pay parking information that we have from earlier discussions, and bring it back to council for consideration.
• Consider building another parkade in a location other than Beaver Street:  not approved -- by another 3-3 vote.

On the Re-use-It Centre:

• Everyone is very excited about the possibilities here, and council voted to have it go into the mix for the 2009 strategy discussions.  At the same time, both council and staff want to make sure that this doesn't negatively affect churches and other organizations that have traditionally made money through rummage sales, and so it was agreed that any idea of this type would be developed by working with those organizations to find a win-win approach.
• Thanks to Catherine B for directing me to information on the highly successful centres in Portland, Oregon -- take a look at this link if you want to get inspired:  http://www.bringrecycling.org/

On the bylaw review procedure:

• Administration told Council that they have put a procedure in place that will bring every bylaw back in front of council at least once every three years.  Council was surprised but pleased to learn that this procedure existed.  With this assurance that a responsible approach was already in place, I withdrew my motion.

On the Finance Committee:

• Council defeated my motion to establish a Finance Committee, with a vote of 4 - 2 (Macdonald and Taylor for).  From the discussion, it is my understanding that the councillors who were opposed feel that sufficient controls, checks and balances are already in place, that Council is already sufficiently informed on the Town's financial performance, that creating a Finance Committee gives you a situation where some councillors are more in the know than others, and that this type of committee would require a lot of extra work by councillors and staff.  In order to satisfy myself that I am doing my duty as a councillor, I will be attempting to personally review over the next few months all the items I had listed for a Finance Committee to do.

NEXT MEETING -- KEY ITEMS

Bow River Basin

• There will be a presentation on water quality objectives and indicators for the Bow River Basin.

Regional Transportation Authority

• Council will be asked to endorse a regional transportation authority steering committee with reps from Towns of Banff and Canmore, ID9, Tourism Canmore, the ski areas, the accom sector, the transportation sector, and the environment sector, and to appoint the Mayor (who has already been very active on this project) as the town's rep.  This is exciting, because it's one more step along the way toward a coordinated regional transportation system, with transportation to and within Canmore and around Banff National Park destinations including ski areas.  Good for the environment, for tourism, and for the residents!  The province has been asked to provide a substantial grant to help with getting this set up -- we should know their answer by the end of March.

Report on the Lands Adjacent to the Town of Banff:

• Many of you will remember the LATB planning process, and the exciting ideas that came out of it for environmental protection and recreational use in the area around the Town of Banff.  Parks Canada is not wasting any time on this -- they're already moving forward with some of the Key Actions from the LATB plan.  You can read the brief report on what they're doing by clicking on this link
• http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1353
• and scrolling down to page 62. 

Homeless and Hard to House

• Huge congratulations to FCSS and the BRRR Committee, who have worked together to acquire a grant of $65,000 from the province to provide "street-level" assistance for the next two years to adults who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Banff.  The report estimates that this would be 9 - 14 people per month, on average.  You can see the report by clicking on:
• http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1353       and scrolling down to page 70.

FCM SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE

I was fortunate enough to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Sustainable Communities Conference February 14 - 16 in Ottawa.  The presentations were inspiring and packed with information.  They focussed on solutions, not just on problems.  I came back with lots of ideas that I'd like to investigate further and see whether they can work for Banff. 

Just two of many examples:  Apparently Welland, Ontario  converted to LED streetlights and paid the cost of the project (due to energy savings) in 1.5 years!  And Halifax is dealing with aging water lines as we are, but they've found a technology that allows them to go in and re-line some of the pipes in situ, rather than digging them up and replacing them -- that sounds worth looking into!

I signed up right away for the website/listserve of one of the best presenters -- you can visit it here to check out great case studies and link to other sustainability resources:

www.cbsm.com

You can see the program of the conference by clicking here:

http://sustainablecommunities.fcm.ca/files/2008-SC_Conference/FCM-conference-program-08-EN.pdf

All the best until next time -- Leslie