council update, 26 March 2011
Hello everyone:
Before I get into the details of council meetings and public input opportunities, here are a couple of quick community items that may interest you ...
EARTH HOUR TONIGHT
The Town of Banff is turning off streetlights downtown and turning off non-essential lighting at town buildings to mark Earth Hour. I hope you will consider turning off your electric lights, appliances, and devices between 8:30 and 9:30 pm.
FIRST ROBIN CONTEST
If you have a BES or BCHS student in your family, you may be interested in this contest. The Crag is offering a prize to the first student to email a picture of a robin (taken this spring in Banff) to Larissa Barlow. You can read about the long-ago Crag tradition that inspired this contest at this link:
http://www.banffcragandcanyon.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3038794
Now, on to business...
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INPUT
Park Avenue Playground
If you live on or near Park Avenue, you may want to give your opinion on how the playground space should be upgraded. This Town of Banff page tells you how to do that:
http://www.banff.ca/locals-residents/recreation/parks_playgrounds/playground-consultation-survey.htm
Deadline is April 13.
Land Use Bylaw Phase 2 Outreach
The neighbourhood kiosks will be set up over the next week, to make it easy for you to provide your input on development in the commercial areas of Banff. Planning staff and council members will be available to hear your thoughts.
- Tuesday, March 29 at Cascade Plaza 11 am to 1 pm
- Wednesday March 30 at Kirby Lane Mall (Evelyn's, Ski Hub) 11 am to 1 pm
- Thursday March 31 at Nesters 5 pm to 7 pm
- Friday April 1 at Bison Courtyard 11 am to 1 pm
- Saturday April 2 at Mt Norquay Lodge, 11 am to 1 pm
Conversation Cafe
There has been a bit of discussion lately about whether we are an "authentic mountain community", and that discussion ties in very well with the Land Use Bylaw review. The next Conversation Cafe, April 6 at 7 pm at the WildFlour, will focus on this very question. Come join what will no doubt be a lively discussion.
MONDAY'S COUNCIL MEETINGS
Council has three meetings on Monday.
The public hearing on development fee increases begins at 2 pm in Council Chambers, and the regular council meeting follows. When that is done, the Finance Committee meeting begins. All three of these meetings are open to the public and you are very welcome to attend.
Here is the link to the package for the first two meetings, followed by some of the highlights:
Development fee increases - public hearing
You can see the report for this item starting on page 2 of the package. In brief, Council is looking at a bylaw that will increase the fees for development permits, so that they cover the cost of reviewing, approving and enforcement. If you wish to comment on these proposed changes, the public hearing is your opportunity.
Compost operation changes
As you may know, we produce a lot of compost from our sewage treatment plant and organics diversion program. It's great stuff, but we haven't been able to find a market for it. Starting on page 34 of the package, you'll see a proposal to work with a private company to turn our compost (along with some of the lime and cement kiln dust that's readily available nearby) into a soil amendment product. The company would then market this product for agricultural and land-reclamation use.
The estimate is that this could save us around $164,000 per year from the operating budget, but we have to make a capital investment of $1.2 million up front. We were already planning to build a composting pad, and could re-direct that money, and find additional grant money, but the project is still costly. My concern is that if the N-Viro company has trouble selling the product, then they may terminate after 5 years, and we would not have recovered our investment.
I like this project idea, but I want to see how we can mitigate the risks before we enter into a contract.
Public Art proposal
The public art committee is proposing that we spend $26,000 on three sets of original art banners for three different locations around town. Reading the report (starting on page 50 of the package), you'll see that each banner would last for 6 months. So for $26K, we'd get art in three locations for 18 months. I will be asking questions about this one, because I don't understand why we wouldn't put the money into more permanent sculptures, which everyone seems to enjoy. I also question why we would hang these banners as proposed, at levels where vandals could easily reach them.
Residential Recycling
The new blue bin program has resulted in a 25% decrease in the weight of residential garbage going to the landfill. Read all about it starting on page 52 of the package.
Finance Committee
Here's the link to the Finance Committee package:
At this meeting, council will be looking at three items:
- A new policy on acceptance of gifts by mayor and council, which details what may and may not be done, and requires any council member who receives a "protocol gift" or "memento" to register it with the Town. I'll be suggesting that we drop the value of permissible gifts to under $100, and require anything else to be passed on to the Town.
- A reserve policy for replacement of fire vehicles and equipment, which says that we need to increase the amount we're putting away annually for this purpose.
- A reserve policy for the maintenance of public art, which suggests that we put 10% of the value of the art away for future maintenance whenever we acquire a new piece.