Council update, August 30, 2009
Hello everyone:
What an amazing weekend this has been! The weather was so fabulous, and it was fun to see all the WorldSkills groups in town.
COMING TO COUNCIL ON MONDAY
Tomorrow is a light council meeting, with a Banff Housing Corporation shareholders' meeting to follow.
You will find the overall council package at this link:
Banff Community Foundation
The Foundation's Executive Director will be giving council an update on the activities of this important community organization.
Banff Sports Hall of Fame
Mark Starratt will talk to Council about the opportunities this organization sees in the upcoming Olympic year of 2010.
Urban Forest management plan
On page 27 of the council package, you'll see a report to council on the activities undertaken by the UFMP group this season. Work in 2009 included specialist canopy pruning, removal of diseased or hazardous trees, and the planting, protecting and maintenance of approximately 150 trees and approximately 150 shrubs in 12 pods around town.
Olympic Torch relay celebration
Mayor Stutz has been working with a committee of enthusiastic folks on the celebrations that will take place as the Olympic torch is carried through Banff. There are few details of programming, etc, to be made public at this time, but the report explains that the $40,000 budget of the event will come from federal and provincial grant programs, and from "residual funds from the Special Events corporation". The report can be seen on page 30 of the council package.
Brochure release: Walking through Banff's Nature
On page 33 of the council package is a brief report on this new brochure, which highlights the natural history of Banff. 7000 copies have been printed.
Banff Housing Corporation
You can see the BHC package at this link:
The big agenda item is a proposal for the BHC to acquire ten apartment-style condos in Peyto Place, and to include them in the BHC portfolio as home ownership, price-restricted units. This would help the BHC towards balancing its portfolio of housing types, and allow them to offer some units that may appeal to a different type of homeowner than those in the previous developments.
In order for this to go forward, the Town would have to guarantee the loan to the BHC, and would have to support the request to dedicate the 2007 and 2008 Affordable Housing Program provincial grant money to this project, rather than to one on Cave Avenue.
EVENING MEETING REMINDER
Next council meeting (September 14) is an evening meeting. As you may remember, council decided to try three evening meetings this year, to try to make it easier for some members of the public who cannot attend council during the day. If you want to know how a council meeting works (maybe you're thinking of running for council in 2010!), this is your opportunity.