What’s Happening at Invermere Council?

By Carol Gordon

The regular meeting of the District of Invermere council was held on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Office.

In attendance were: Mayor Gerry Taft and Councillors: Paul Denchuk, Al Miller and Justin Atterbury.

Staff present were: Chris Prosser, Chief Administrative Officer; Kindry Luyendyk, Corporate Officer and Rory Hromadnik, Director of Development Services.

Gallery: seven people.

BYLAWS & PUBLIC HEARING REPORTS

Smoking Regulation Bylaw (see Council Meeting Report April 9th, 2018 E-know.ca)

Excerpts from RFD (Request for Decision):

“The proposed bylaw will regulate smoking at all public parks, facilities, trails and municipal work places. However, the bylaw will not apply to road right-of-ways, sidewalks or areas around doors, windows and air intakes at this time.

“This initiative, as it relates to the parks, will address the issue regarding cigarette butt litter on the public beaches and in our parks spaces, while reducing the impacts of second hand smoke on other users.

“This bylaw also includes electronic cigarettes or ‘vaping’ and the use of cannabis which are all considered a form of smoking.”

As of May 3, the District had received 169 responses (from survey). Overall 79% of respondents support banning smoking in public spaces like parks, trails, pathways and municipal buildings and facilities.

(Upon adoption of Bylaw) “Staff will begin ordering the cigarette disposal units to be placed at park and facility entrances and coordinate sign production for placement prior to July 1.”

Councillor Atterbury inquired: “what would be the standard fine for infraction?” in reference to Bylaw 1538’s statement: “set fines, not exceeding $2,000, for contravention of the designated bylaws.”

CAO Chris Prosser: “Within the Bylaw No. 1538 there’s a fee schedule that outlines what the minimum bylaw charge would be. For the infraction they all average $250 per infraction.” He added the $2,000 you see in the bylaw is there in case it goes to the courts.

Prosser clarified when asked, “This includes marijuana, cigarettes, vaping, anything that is classified under the Health Act as ‘secondary smoke.”

Council passed second and third readings of the Smoking Regulation Bylaw No. 1537, 2018 and Ticket Information Utilization Amendment Bylaw No. 1538, 2018. It will be brought back to the next council meeting for a vote on its adoption.

The following bylaws (see Council Meeting Report, April 24th) were adopted:

Community Facility Parcel Tax Amendment Bylaw No. 1539, 2018

Water Improvements 2008 Parcel Tax Amendment Bylaw No. 1540, 2018

Water Supply Upgrade Parcel Tax Amendment Bylaw No. 1541, 2018

2018 Tax Rates Bylaw No. 1542, 2018 was adopted by Council (see Council Meeting Report, April 24th for details).

OCP and Zoning Bylaw Amendments – Czelslaw Wisniewski, 1314-12th Avenue

Excerpts from RFD (Request for Decision):

“The parcel of land under application is a relatively large single family residential parcel, 0.19 ha, (0.47 acres) in size and has changed very little since 1953 when this parcel was created through a consolidation of three individual lots. The current development on the property consists of one single-family dwelling.

“The ownership consists of three families that have decided they would like to sell the parcel and are looking to improve the potential development options available through the land use and zoning amendment application along with a subdivision application, which would split the current parcel in two. The existing house would remain on the northern half with a new lot being created in the southern half The subdivision application, as submitted, would result in an additional parcel (two total) creating the potential under the current zoning regulations for a maximum of six family units on what is currently the single-family site.”

It was passed by council to receive first and second reading of the Official Community Plan Amendment Bylaw 1545, 2018 and Zoning Amendment Bylaw 1546, 2018 to rezone Parcel A (SEE N4598), District Lot 1092, Kootenay District Plan NEP2622 from R-1, Single Family Residential to R-2 Multi Family Residential (Low Density).

A public hearing will be held.

REPORTS REQUIRING ACTION

Special Events

Council authorized the following Special Events:

• Calgary Sport Car Club Rocky Mountain Rally (May 25 – 27);
• Wildsight Invermere Ursus & Us: Bear Day (June 16);
• Columbia Valley Arts Mountain Mosaic Festival (July 1);

2018/2019 Columbia Basin Trust Community Initiatives

It was passed by council to recommend the following allocation of funds: 
• Blue Lake Forest Education Society $445 for the blue paddle program;
• Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team $500 for response equipment;
• Canadian Red Cross Society  – $840 for medical equipment;
• Caregivers Network for East Kootenay Seniors Society– $500 for education and remote outreach to caregivers and seniors;
• Columbia Lake Stewardship Society – $275 for Columbia River usage education and sanitary support;
• Columbia Valley Arts Council – $1,000 for Invermere MusicFest;
• Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce – $1,500 for way-finding signage;
• Community Valley Foundation – $1,000 for the Columbia Valley Vital Signs Project;
• Columbia Valley Makerspace Society – $2,500 for their year two and three funding;
• Columbia Valley Youth Soccer Association – $2,000 for youth soccer in the valley;
• Community Connections Society of Southeast BC  – $1,500 for the advertising of programs;
• Cranbrook Society for Community Living – $500 for the summer recreation program;
• District of Invermere (see Cycling Without Age) – $3,000 for the purchase of a trishaw bike;
• Edgewater Recreation Society (fb page) -$750 for an invasive species field truck;
• Fairmont Community Association – $500 for the Fairmont Hot Springs Phase #2 of the bike and walking path;
• Family Dynamix Association – $2,000 for a youth night and $638.25 for the Columbia Valley resource & Service Guide for Families;
• Friends of the Columbia Wetlands Society– $1,500 for kiosks along Highway 95;
• Friends of the Invermere Library– $1,175 for a library adventure activity kit;
• Glacier Peaks Gymnastics Society – $2,000 for PARKOUR program equipment;
• Groundswell Network Society – $1,000 for programming;
• Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley – $2,645 for a bereavement program and support group expansion;
• Invermere Campaign Animal Network Society (ICAN) – $1,000 for a spay and neuter program;
• J.A. Laird Elementary School – $4,000 for an outdoor learning space;
• Kootenay Livestock Association – $500 to bring schools to learn more about agriculture;
• Lake Windermere Ambassadors Society – $1,200 for initiating water quality monitoring on Lake Windermere;
• Lake Windermere District Rod & Gun Club – $1,500 for ongoing community range upgrades;
• Northern BC Friends of Children Society – $1,000 for East Kootenay family support;
• Radium Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce – $2,000 for a co-op tourism marketing project manager;
• Radium Hot Springs Public Library – $250 for enhancements at the new venue;
• Wildsight Invermere Branch – $1,500 to create an electric vehicle share program;
• Wilmer Community Club (fb page) -$500 for fencing and signage at the Wilmer Community Hall;
• Wilmer Waterworks Improvement District – $350 to bring the Wilmer Dam up to Provincial Legislated Standards;
• Windermere Valley Child Care Society – $2,014.39 for new playground equipment;
• Windermere Valley Snowmobile Society – $3,000 for a building to house the new grooming equipment;
• Wings Over the Rockies – $1,000 for the programming of the festival.

Movies in the Mountains – Outdoor Movie Equipment

Council authorized the purchase of new outdoor movie equipment in the amount of up to $25,000 with HD Outdoor with the funding to be allocated from the Resort Municipality Initiative.

CORRESPONDENCE REQUIRING ACTION:

CastleRock Community Association extended an invitation to council to the second annual Fire Smart Event.

Councillor Miller commented: “I did attend last year and they did put on a very good event. They had quite a few people out and they went through a bunch of demos on putting out fires, with the fire department. Then they got into the real nuts and bolts of it in terms of landscaping, what’s good, what’s not and talked about materials in general. It was quite well done.”

Mayor Taft: “We’ll see who is available to attend.”

Louise Collier requesting to have the “Parallel Parking Only” sign in the handicap zone in front of the post office changed back to the way it was before. Council agreed to change the sign.

The next District of Invermere regular meeting is Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m.

District of Invermere council meets regularly throughout the year on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (second Tuesdays only during July, August, September and December) at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Office (914 – 8th Avenue, Invermere) unless otherwise indicated.

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