Council update, 20 November 2009
Hello everyone:
It's an incredibly busy time at Council, with the land use bylaw, the budget and the BHC working group all going on, plus the park management plan review. It's a good thing I like reading! But just in case you don't, I'll make it brief -- here are the highlights:
PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW
Parks Canada's plan is very important to all of us. Not only does it control what goes on in the park outside the town, it also is the "umbrella" plan above the Town's community plan and the Town's land use bylaw, because of the Town being part of the national park. You can see a newsletter about the review process and see some of the key proposals for change to the plan at this link:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/plan/plan5/NewsletterOctober2709.pdf
and you can get a copy of the draft plan from Mike Murtha at mike.murtha@pc.gc.ca
But hurry -- it's my understanding that input is supposed to be complete by November 30.
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE BANFF HOUSING CORPORATION?
The working group of 2 councillors (including yours truly) and 10 public members (including 5 BHC homeowners) has had its first meeting and set some rules for how it will work. Meetings are scheduled for November 25, December 7, January 11 and January 25 (7 pm to 10 pm each time). The meetings are open to any member of the public who wishes to observe. The group will be working its way through the list of recommendations and issues that have been referred by Council, and will be recommending to Council how to proceed on each of them.
MONDAY'S COUNCIL MEETING
You can see the whole package for Monday's meeting at
Because there are several large items this week, the package is broken up into 6 different documents, to be individually downloaded. Here are some highlights:
Delegations!
There are twelve (count 'em!) delegations coming to Council on Monday -- you can see the list by going to the agenda package (link above). Two are groups coming to express concerns about the intentions for the 200 block of Banff Avenue as expressed in the draft national park management plan. Ten are presentations by non-profit groups in the community, asking for funding as part of Council's budget deliberations for 2010.
Second reading of the Land Use Bylaw
The proposed changes to the Bylaw are coming to council for second reading. Second reading is the point at which amendments can be made, and I will be asking council to consider several, based on my own thoughts and on what I have been hearing from some of you and from the public hearing. Just a reminder that this is Phase One of the Land Use Bylaw review, and deals largely with residential density and design guidelines. Future phases, dealing with subjects such as commercial zones, public service zones, and so on, are yet to come.
You can see the information on the Land Use Bylaw by clicking on the link above, then opening the five documents that describe the changes.
New de-icing approach
After trying out various products, the Town will be using a mixture of traction granules and calcium magnesium acetate on bridge sidewalks and a range of other pedestrian areas. This is a bit more expensive, but it is effective and is less corrosive and better for the environment. You can see the whole report starting on page 86 of the main council package.
Working to protect water
Starting on page 98 of the package, you can see a brief summary of all the things that Bow Valley municipalities and land managers are doing to protect the upper Bow watershed. This is a report to the Bow River Basin Council, and shows them how we are meeting the objectives of their watershed management plan. It's quite impressive overall, and you can compare what the different communities and agencies are doing. We hope that by sharing this information, communities can not only be proud of what they are doing, but also gain ideas from their neighbours, and look for opportunities to collaborate on water initiatives.
Pandemic response plan
Has all the talk of H1N1 got you wondering about essential services and how they will be maintained if a lot of people get sick at once? Starting on page 110 of the main council package, you can read the Town's approach to ensuring that critical and vital services will be maintained if we have a high absentee rate due to the flu. It's interesting to see that our absentee rate so far has not exceeded 4% at one time, and that the Alberta average for flu season is 8%.
Of course, prevention is the most important defence! Thorough and frequent hand-washing, and staying home if you're sick, are the simplest ways to minimize the spread of the flu.