Good evening and welcome to our regular council meeting for Monday, April the 25th. And I'd like to call this meeting to order, but before I begin, I will be doing a land acknowledgment. As we gather here today, we acknowledge we are on Treaty 6 territory and the homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to the First Nation and Métis ancestors of this place and reaffirm our relationship to one another. This time I'll ask for a motion to adopt the agenda. Councilor Houston,
I'd like to move the adoption of the agenda.
for Monday, April 25th. Thank you very much Councillor Euston. Are there any additions
or deletions from Councillor? Councillor Stevenson.
Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to give a report on the tri-leisure centre, please.
All right, so we will add that under Councillor Reports, there's 12 A, TLC, Councillor Gillette.
Thank you, Mary. I'd like to give an update on the conference I attended.
Okay, so we will add under Council Reports B. In the conference report,
are there any other
additions or deletions to the agenda?
Seeing nothing else from Council, I'll turn this
to administration to see if there are any additions or deletions. Good evening, Mr. Mayor.
Members of Council, nothing from your administration site. Thank you very much, so if there are no
objections? I will call the question on the motion.
Thank you very much.
That motion has been carried. So we will move on now to our consent agenda.
And if I could please have someone make a motion. Well, I guess before I do that,
I'll ask if there are any items anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda.
I am seeing none. So could I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda?
Councillor Gillette. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the recommendations
contained in the following reports be approved, item 4.1 minutes, April 11th, 2022,
regular council meeting and April 19th, 2022, Committee of the Whole Meeting, item 10.6C,
dash 11.96, dash 22, dash 22, property tax and supplementary property tax rate bylaw,
First reading, item 10.7c, 1198-22, traffic bylaw amendment.
First reading, item 11.120-1-2022, external boards and committees appointments revised April
2022.
Thank you, Councillor Gillette.
I will call the question on the motion.
And thank you, that motion has been carried unanimously.
So we will be moving in, well, our next is minutes and those were approved under our consent
agenda. And we do have two public hearings this evening. So before I start on the public
hearings, I would like to ask a member council to please read the public hearing opening
statement.
Councillor Stevenson.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Public hearings are
convened in accordance with the Municipal Government Act of Alberta and have two purposes.
The first is to provide stakeholders and community members with an opportunity to make submissions
to council about the proposed by-law. The second is to allow council to gather pertinent information
on the proposed by-law prior to making a decision.
This is the public's last opportunity to comment on a proposed by-law as council is unable
to receive further submissions after public hearing is closed.
Thank you very much Councillor Stevenson, so I will open the public hearing on C-1194-22,
land use by-law amendment McLaughlin stage 4A redistricting.
And I'll just ask the city clerk to review the hearing procedures.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The process for the hearing will be as follows.
Administration will make a presentation first.
Council will then hear from those who wish to address council, both through a virtual
and in-person format.
Those interested in making an email submission during the hearing may do so by sending an
email to city clerk at sprucegrove.org.
Email submissions will be accepted until the close of the hearing.
The city clerk will then read into the record any written submissions received by email
If deemed necessary, the hearing will temporarily adjourn to allow Council to review the material.
And finally, Council will be given the opportunity to ask clarifying questions of administration.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, and I see we have Mr. Nalabde here.
And if you could please go forward with your presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of Council.
I'm just starting my presentation here.
This is the public hearing for by-law C-1194-22,
McLaughlin Stage 4A, which is a B-districting amendment to the land use by-law.
McLaughlin Stage 4A is located in the west area of the city, located along Medallink,
common north of Nelson Drive, in the McLaughlin neighborhood as shown on the map.
The intended land use for McLaughlin Stage 4A is single detached residential.
The
Heritage Estates Area Structure Plan is the bylaw that provides the planning framework
for the McLaughlin neighborhood.
The slide shows the location of the amendment in the context of the overall area structure
plan.
The area structure plan identifies the amendment area for mixed load-medium density residential.
The redistricting application for single detached housing is consistent with the approved area
structure plan.
The proposed amendment is to redistrict an area of 1.1 hectare of northwest quarter
section 4, Township 53, Range 27, West of 4, Meridian, from its current district, which
is UR Urban Reserve District, to R1 mixed load medium density residential district.
This redistricting will support the development of approximately 20 single detached lots.
The public hearing was advertised in April 8th and 15th, 2022, editions of the Sprues
Grove Examiner, satisfying the requirements of the Municipal Government Act.
Additionally, a notice was mailed directly to properties within 30 meters of the subject
lands and was also published on the city's website.
The proposed by-law amendment was circulated to other city departments, including engineering
and public works, and has received the support for the amendment.
administration supports this by-law. Now, this portion concludes the formal component of my
presentation. I just want to take a minute and address the letter received by administration
and council from an adjacent property owner who shared her concern regarding an old tree that falls
within the development area. When the city embarks on the planning of a new area structure plan,
the city focuses on the preservation of large environmental areas which also have the potential to
become a community wide amenity rather than focusing on small isolated tree stands.
Examples of this approach includes areas of heritage Grove Park, Jubilee Park, and new
areas within the Fenwick neighborhood in the form of municipal and environmental reserves.
In the McLaughlin neighborhood, this city will be acquiring additional lands for the dog
creek corridor, and this will include portions of existing mature trees as well.
While the city is actively taking steps for the preservation of natural and
freed areas, unfortunately not all trees can be saved during the urbanization of an area,
and our bylaws currently do not govern the protection of trees and private property.
Beyond these points, I would like to defer to the developer regarding their plans for this site
and what they intend to do. That concludes my presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your presentation. At this time, I'll ask our city clerk if there have
There have been any members of the public who have registered to ask a question virtually.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I can advise no members of the public have registered to address Council virtually.
I will advise, however, we do have PJ Pescod with Melkor present to answer any questions
if needed.
Thank you very much.
So I will ask if there are any members of the gallery that would like to speak to Council
for this public hearing.
Well,
I'll ask council at this time if there are any questions for clarification.
I hope council are being Donald.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. Melavde, for reading the letter from the resident.
She sent that in at my suggestion.
She contacted me initially and expressed her concerns about the loss of a tree that was
adjacent to her property.
My heart goes out to her.
I think I've driven by the site a couple of times and I've noticed that tree.
it's pretty spectacular. And it occurred to me, you know, in the midst of us talking about
public art here in Spruce Grove, that that tree is a piece of public art. It's not manmade,
but it's pretty spectacular. It's a hundred-year-old tree. It's pretty majestic, and it's a shame that we
are potentially on the verge of losing that tree. With respect to your comments, I really appreciate
what you shared there. Your colleague, Mr. Tal, I saw his response to the resident, and I want to
acknowledge a really good empathetic response on his part that appreciated, I guess, the beauty
of this tree. And I get that we can't just preserve individual trees, but it's a shame.
For our guest from Melkor, I'd notice that that piece of land is up for sale on MLS. Is
Melkor intending to develop the land? Or what, can you speak to that, please?
Please.
Can you hear me?
Thanks for the question.
Sorry.
With regards to the land.
Are you talking about the land that's the, oh, Melcord doesn't own that land currently.
Okay.
So we wouldn't.
We're not sure what the development plans are for that.
I did see that it's less than an MLS, but it's not a Melcord holdings.
Oh, see.
I misunderstood.
Okay.
And with regards to the, to the tree, we totally agree.
We try our hardest to preserve environmentally sensitive areas.
is we like our communities to really have an environmental feel as well.
When you drive through McLaughlin, you'll see that we protected the environmental reserve
along Dog Creek, and it is a really nice tree.
We actually sent someone out today to take a look at it.
They did note that it is at the towards the end of its life cycle, and then we spoke to
the adjacent landowner that tree really affects, and they've been noticing it's a bit of a hazard
as a lot of the branches have been falling off, and so they were actually in favor of removal
of the tree.
I'm not saying the tree is being 100% removed.
It does sometimes impede drainage standards with the city of Spruce Grove.
We've encountered this with a few other communities.
So totally empathetic to people getting used to a certain amenity or a certain tree and
wanting to keep it, but sometimes it can affect city drainage standards.
Thank you, and thank you for clarifying as well.
No further questions, but again, thank you to your colleague and First City's attempts to respond to the residents concerns. I do appreciate it.
Thank you, Councilor McDonald. I'll ask for the second time if there are any members in the public gallery that would like to ask a question.
I'll go back to Council, and as my colleagues, if there are any further questions for clarification during this public hearing.
And for the third time, I'll ask if there are any members in the public gallery that would like to speak at this public hearing.
Seeing nobody, I'll go back to the city clerk and just ask if we've received any correspondence by email on this public hearing.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I can advise we have not received any questions by email on this public hearing.
All right. Thank you so much. So I will close the public hearing. I'm bylaw C-113-21, land use bylaw amendment McClockland stage 4A redistricting.
And now we will open up the public hearing for bylaw C-1195-22.
2, 9-use by-lawed text amendment, alcohol sales, major, plan 142, 2641, block 1, lot 1.
And I'll ask the city clerk to once again review our hearing procedures.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The process for the hearing will be as follows, administration will make a presentation first.
Council will then hear from those who wish to address council both through a virtual and in-person
format. Those interested in making an email submission during the
The hearing may do so by sending an email to city clerk at sprucegrove.org. Email submissions will be accepted until the close of the hearing. The city clerk will then read into the record any written submissions received by email, and if deemed necessary, the hearing will temporarily adjourn to allow council to review the information. Finally, council will be given the opportunity to ask clarifying questions of administration. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Nullab, if you could please provide us your presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
This is the public hearing for by-law C-1195-22, which is a site-specific text amendment
to the land-use by-law.
The subject site, one Dalton link, also known as deer park commercial, is located east
of Jennifer Hylway and south of Dalton link in the deer park neighborhood, as shown on
the map.
The intended land use for one Dalton link is commercial.
The north central area structure plan is the bylaw that provides the planning framework
for the deer park neighborhood.
This slide shows the location of the amendment area in the context of the overall area structure
plan.
The area structure plan identifies the amendment area for commercial land use and consistent
with this intention, the subject site is currently restricted as C3 neighborhood retail and
services district.
The purpose of the C3 neighborhood retail and service district is to provide for commercial
and personal service uses to serve the day-to-day needs of residents within a residential
neighborhood.
The C3 district currently permits alcohol sales minor with a maximum floor area of 275
meter square.
The commercial developer of the site has a potential tenant for the site that requires
a floor area of 420 meters square to put a larger format store.
This amendment proposes the addition of alcohol sales major on Plan 142641 block 1.1.1,
under Section 125 C3 neighborhood retail and services district,
subsection 1 discretionary uses as a site-specific discretionary use,
and under subsection three additional regulations in new regulation limiting the use,
this uses maximum flow rate at 425 meter square.
Sorry.
Administration supports this proposal as the site is located at the periphery of a residential neighborhood
and that its corner location has ample access from both an arterial road being Jen Hylway
and collector road Dalton Link to allow customer visits without increasing traffic
throughout the neighborhood's interior.
This proposal is strictly a size increase request
by adding size to the use.
The application is not looking for any exemptions
and all separation distances from parks
and school sites will be exceeded.
Lastly, as part of the circulation,
by law enforcement also had no issue with this proposal.
The public hearing for this by law was advertised
in the April 8th and 15th 2022 edition
the screws group examiner, satisfying the requirements of the Municipal Government Act.
Additionally, a notice was mailed directly to properties within 30 metres of the subject lands
and was also published on the city's website. Administration supports this by-law,
and that concludes my presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I appreciate the presentation, and at this time, I'll ask the city clerk if any
members of the public registered to address Council virtually.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I can advise no members of the public have registered to address Council virtually.
Okay, thank you so much.
I'll ask if there are any members of the public that would like to address Council during this public hearing.
Please step right up.
Maybe you can just step up and just provide us your name.
That's David Longprey.
So your worship, Mayor Acker?
Excuse me, Mr. Mayor?
Can I just provide the opening protocol?
That's right.
We'll have the City Court just read through the protocol once again.
Perfect. Thank you. The protocols for speaking during the public hearing will be as follows.
Presenters may only speak once and will have a maximum of five minutes to speak.
The clerk will notify presenters when there are 30 seconds remaining.
If you're part of a delegation, please select one speaker to present on behalf of the entire group.
A delegation spokesperson may only speak once and will have a maximum of five minutes to speak.
All questions and submissions must be directed to the chair and should be directly related to the
the public hearing. Protocol decisions of the chair are final and will not be debated.
Thank you to the city clerk for reminding me to do that crucial part of the process and
please Mr. Long for David. Long pray. Long pray. Thank you so much.
Thank you. So your worship Mayor Acker, members of council, staff, and members of the public.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak on behalf of myself and my partner
to all of you today. My name is David Longprey, as I said, and my partner in this project is
my brother Warren Longprey, and we both live in the Vancouver area. Warner and I have been developing
land together for several years now, and between the two of us have initiated, owned and managed
the construction of over a million square feet in commercial and industrial space, mainly in
B.C. and Alberta, but I believe about 40% of that work is being in Alberta.
Our nation, the past 10 years, has been working with just a few high-profile, expanding
retail tenants, finding excellent corner locations for them, and developing projects of a convenience
commercial nature.
Our most recent project, prior to this subject-spruce-grove property, has been in Stony Plain at the corner
of veterans Boulevard and Highway 16-A, which is about 75 percent completed in the past year.
It has been a solid two years and eight months since we first identified this subject location
in Spruce Grove. That's been a long pre-developed period that sees us here before you today,
but we've trusted demonstrates our dedication to our goals and our valued retailers.
We've been able to attract three very high-profile retail uses,
to this location so far with more to come who have also believed in the location and asked strong enough to remain by our side as we've worked through the real estate issues on this property.
As the land development do all my brother and I believe we've acquired the ability to find properties that are meant to be new opportunities and new points of public usefulness and convenience with ourselves comes a depth of experience working not just with retailers.
but also with several municipal jurisdictions and neighborhoods.
We believe that we have the skills and sensibilities
and able us to balance the demands that come from every sector
involving a project to bring it to a successful conclusion.
In that light, we do our best to anticipate
where the points of interest may arise
and we do our best to facilitate and mitigate
with whatever we have within our control
to make things come together smoother.
This location in Spruce Grove has been no exception to those many interests, and I believe
we've been able to achieve something here that works.
Something that will work for the long term, not just between the owner and the city, but
also something that will ensure the success of our valued retailers, which in turn leads to
a series of public benefits, including the long term generation of tax revenues, a new
the new local full and part time employment opportunities and new spruce grove
residents convenience and enjoyment. So we're here today to answer any questions
or comments from council or the public about who we are, what we hope to
achieve and how it has come together. And thank you very much for the opportunity.
Thank you very much, Mr. Bon Query, for being here and presenting during this
public hearing. I will open this up for members of council. If there are any
Any questions for clarification, or perhaps to Mr. Longcray during this public hearing?
I'd see you in any questions right now from Council, so thank you very much.
I will once again ask if there are any members of the public that would like to speak to this
public hearing.
Touch
base again with my Council colleagues, are there any further questions come to mind
for clarification?
I am seeing none, so for the third time I'll ask if there are any members of the public
gallery that would like to speak at this public hearing.
I'll ask the city clerk at this time if we've received any correspondence via email.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I can advise we have not received any questions via email.
All right, so I will close the public hearing.
I'll buy the last seed as 1-195-22, line use bylaw text amendment, alcohol sales, major, line 1-4-264-1, block 1, log 1.
And we are now at item 6 which is our public question and answer period.
and I will first ask our city clerk if anyone has registered to ask a question virtually.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I can advise that no one has registered to speak virtually.
Okay. I'll ask if there's anyone in the gallery that would like to address council during this public question period.
I'll ask our city clerk if we've received any correspondence via email.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I can advise. We have received no questions via email.
All right. So for the final time, I'll just ask if there's anyone in the gallery that would like to
address or ask question of council, this would be the time for that.
And I am seeing none, so we will move ahead into council presentations.
We have no official council presentations in the agenda this evening.
So we'll move to our delegations and we do have a delegation this evening.
We are going to have Mr. Lempfier's please introduce our guests for this evening.
On this side.
Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
here. This agenda item will be seeking council approval of the 2021 audited consolidated
financial statements is prepared by administration and as audited by KPMG LLP. KPMG has completed
their audit of the city of through scroll financial statements for the year ended December
31, 2021. They are here to present their findings and to answer any questions that council has.
And with us today, we have two of the senior representatives from KPMG here, Ms. Robin
Eason, partner on behalf of Mr. John Stelter, that most members of Council know.
And Ms. Taylor Rollhizer, who's the senior manager, I'll turn it over to KPMG to perform
their presentation.
Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of Council.
Thank you for having us here tonight.
As mentioned, my name is Taylor Rollheiser and I'm a senior manager with KPMG, and joining
me here is Robin Easton, a partner with KPMG. KPMG is the external auditors of the city
of Spruce Grove. There is an audit findings report included in your package. I'll hit some
the highlights on that report, and then run through the PowerPoint that's also included, and
of course, answer any questions you have here tonight.
So our audit findings report builds on our audit plan that we did present to council on January 10th, 2022.
We are here tonight to confirm that we have completed our external audit of the consolidated financial statements of the city of Spruce Grove for the year ended December 31, 2021.
And we are prepared to release our final auditors report once approved by council, which is expected this evening.
We are satisfied that the city's consolidated financial statements are fairly prepared
and presented with the and that the significant accounting policies, estimates and disclosures
included in the consolidated financial statements are appropriate.
We have also completed some other audit assignments on a few other pieces of information that come
out of the year-end work, one of those being the municipal financial information return for
the city, which is the financial information that's provided to the province. We also do work
on the local authorities pension plan and the APEC supplementary pension plan. So those are
plans that city employees are members of. We provide an opinion or a report on family and community
support services. So that's special grant reporting that also goes to the province. And finally,
we are also required to review the city's annual report before it's published as part of our
professional requirements, and we don't have any matters to report on our work related
to those other assignments.
As far as our main audit work on the consolidated city of Spruce Grove financial statements, we
outlined a number of areas of audit focus in our audit plan.
I'll run through them quickly.
Those being the recognition of revenue amount subject to external restrictions, so those
are grant and contribution agreements that the city receives, making sure that those
have been recorded in accordance with terms and restrictions that are attached to those
dollars. We spend some time looking at your property tax revenue so looking at the assessed
value as well as the rates and ensuring that those have been appropriately recorded in
the financial statements. When we look at your investments, we're looking at the accuracy
and the valuation of the investment portfolio that is recorded at the city. We confirm those
numbers and also recalculate investment income that is earned on the city's portfolio.
We spend some time looking at the contributed tangible capital assets that come to the
city through development agreements, so making sure that the valuation of those tangible
capital assets has been a-
We've appropriately supported and that it's been recorded at the time that those assets are transferred to the city. In terms of the assets, the tangible capital assets that the city actually builds or purchases directly, we look at the approved capital projects, the funding that you've received and ensure that all the expenditures have been appropriately recorded in the financial statements. We spend some time looking at the city's debt, so we confirm the debt that is outstanding.
and recalculate interest as well as the debt limit that is included in your financial statements.
On the cost side, continuing on the cost side, we make sure that your expenses have been
appropriately supported, that they are appropriate in terms of the nature of the expense,
and that any liabilities that are remaining at the end of the year have been appropriately
recorded as a liability. We take a look at your environmental obligations and contingencies,
So ensuring that where there are some costs that are expected in the future that those have been appropriately assessed and valued and are recorded in your financial statements.
In terms of salaries and benefits, you do report some salaries and benefits within your financial statements.
So we make sure that those have been appropriately presented and supported and are included in your financial statement note disclosures.
And lastly, we spend some time looking at the ability of management to override any controls
that are at the city.
That's an inherent risk that we need to address in all of our audits and were satisfied
that we do not have anything to report back to Council from completion of those procedures.
We're happy to report that we also didn't identify any audit differences, so no changes
to the numbers that were provided by administration, so certainly kudos to them for keeping great records
throughout the year. Aside from the actual audit adjustments, we did or that there weren't any
audit adjustments part of me. We did work with your team here to ensure that any disclosure matters
were appropriately taken care of and worked with them to ensure that your financial statements
We're presented appropriately.
As part of our audit work, we are required to look at controls over financial reporting
that are operating at the city.
We're happy to report that we don't have any findings or control deficiencies to report.
We also don't have any new other matters to report back to the city.
We've come in previous years with some things to think about.
Nothing new that came out of this year's audit, but we did follow up on previous year's
recommendations.
So, one of those related to capital budgeting, specifically capital budgeting when it came to contributed tangible capital assets, and we're satisfied that the city does have a robust budgeting process in place and that that other matter that has been addressed or identified in previous years can be closed.
The other somewhat related observation is in relation to the implementation of an asset
management system that's been I think an ongoing project and continues to be an ongoing
project of the city and we fully support this project going forward, certainly it will
benefit the city in many ways.
The last previous point that we have also considered clear from the city was we had provided some
comments related to the city's plan to continue to refresh policy and make sure that city
policies are updated on a frequent schedule and we're fully supportive of this initiative
and know that it is ongoing.
Included in the city's draft annual report has a draft
in your package. You have a draft independent auditor's report as well as a draft management
representation letter, both of which we expect will be signed today. So in conclusion, we're
We're very appreciative of the opportunity to work with the City of Spruce Grove as your external auditors.
And I will go through the PowerPoint slide right now and happy to answer any questions that Marin Council have.
Okay, so this first slide summarizes most of what I've already talked about.
It highlights our reporting requirements, our reporting responsibilities to the city.
And again, we're satisfied that the consolidated financial statements are fairly presented.
We've also are prepared to provide separate reports on those items listed on the slide and
have confirmed that we have reviewed the information to be included in the annual report.
And we don't have any findings to report in respect to that.
Now for the pictures, which is maybe a little bit more exciting.
Here we've just summarized some of the key financial measures or key themes to take out of your
financial statements. The first is this presentation that highlights the city's net debt and non-financial
asset position. So on the left or the smaller bars, that's the city's net debt position. So at the
end of 2021, the city was in an $11 million net debt position, which has improved over the previous
two years. You can see that net debt position is getting smaller. And what that net debt measure
is the difference between the financial assets of the city, which are your cash, your investments,
your receivables, and then the difference between that and the liabilities that the city has.
So your long-term debt, your accounts payable. So currently, your liabilities exceed your financial
assets by $11 million. The larger bars on the right-hand side of the screen are the city's
These non-financial assets, predominantly this is your tangible capital assets.
So largest number on the city's financial statements, it's your roads, your infrastructure,
your buildings, and certainly you can see that has continued to increase as the city has
continued to spend on your tangible capital assets.
This next slide highlights the city's long-term debt, so both the current long-term debt position
as well as the long-term debt limit.
So, the municipal government act does require the city to calculate and to operate within a debt limit.
What that essentially is, it's the city's capacity to borrow.
So, the large bar, the 142 million bar, that's the city's capacity to borrow, 142 million.
You can see at the end of the year, the city's orings were 39 million.
So, approximately 27% of the debt limit has been used at the end of December.
That number has continued to decline from 2019 to 2020, and in the current year there
is actually no new debt that was taken by the city, so that's where you see that decrease
in 2021.
This next slide highlights a little bit, I guess, of a comparison between some
of the city's few-screws, neighbors in the capital region, so you can see that this is
highlighting the city's debt compared to the average of a few other municipalities which
are named on this slide. The only thing I'd highlight here is that the city's not an outlier.
You can see the city is fairly consistent with your neighboring municipalities in terms of
the debt load that you currently have.
Now for some numbers, these are a little bit of a snapshot
of the actual statements of the city of Spruce Grove. This slide is highlighting your operating
revenue, so the budget as well as the 2021 results and the 2022 results. And as you can see,
the city does a pretty good job of budgeting your operating revenues. You came in very close
to the budget, budget of 90 million, almost 91 million, and you came in at 91 million. So,
right on budget and with a slight increase over 2020,
looking at the bottom half, so the expenses,
the operating expenses that the city has through the year. So again, budget compared to the current
year and the previous year. You have come in a little bit under budget in 2021 and that
differences mostly all within the salaries, wages and benefits caption, which is your largest
expense. It's your people expense. And again, there's just a few less FTEs than was included in
the budget for 2021, but pretty close to budget as well as the 2020 results in terms of operating
expenses.
This slide here highlights the city's annual surplus or deficit before capital
items, so that if maybe if we started the bottom, the bottom green line is what your annual
deficit is at the end of the year. That includes the non-cash item, which is your
amortization. So when you take amortization out of the equation, which is an expense on the city's
financial statements, but not something you actually pay cash for.
You can see that you're actually generating a surplus of $9.6 million.
This slide highlights the statement of operations.
The two top lines are the two that we've already talked about, the operating revenue and
your operating expenses, and then this also adds in the capital related items.
So these are included in the bottom half of your statement of operations or in the bottom section.
And this is where you see what the city has been spending on your tangible capital assets.
So your government transfers for capital.
Those are assets that the city has spent or constructed directly.
Contributed tangible capital assets.
That's $6 million, almost $7 million are assets that have come into the city through developer agreements.
And lastly, we have the developer contributions and levies coming in at $3.3 million.
As you can see, this is a little bit more of a challenge, I guess the budget compared to your operating results.
But this is consistent with expectation.
It's harder to predict the weather in terms of construction activity.
Pandemic-related implications, there's lots of factors to consider when you think about the capital activity.
This slide here is highlighting the city's accumulated surplus.
So the city does separate accumulated surplus into three captions, municipal utility and developer.
and then below that is the invested
in tangible capital assets.
So the top three categories there are resources
that the city has to spend on future operations
in terms of municipal and utility.
And then on the developer deficit side,
you can see that is in a deficit.
And that indicates money that the city has spent
to start development or an advance of development.
Those monies will be collected by future developers through levies once the development projects have started and that invested in tangible capital assets number 523 million again a big number.
That's what the city has invested in your tangible capital assets.
This slide reconciles the changes in net debt so we talked about net debt on the first slide.
that's the bottom line, that $11 million net debt position.
You can see that net debt position, as I mentioned, is improving, so an improvement over
last year as well as an improvement over budget.
If we move back up to the top, that $16 million is the city's annual surplus.
And then the reconciliation in the middle is all the capital related items, so
conversation, again, that's a non-cash item, acquisition of tangible capital assets.
So this is reconciling the change in your net debt on your statement of financial position.
And that was all I had proposed to present tonight.
Again, thank you for having us here this evening.
John sends his regrets.
I'm happy to answer any questions that Marin Council have.
Well, thank you so much, Ms. Rolliser, and Ms. Easton for being here in front of us.
Great presentation and an amazing audit, really enjoyed reading through it.
So, at this time, I'm going to first ask for a motion for one of my colleagues to read
this on the floor.
Perhaps I can have Councilor Gillette go ahead.
I move that the audited, consolidated financial statement of the City of Spruce Grove for
the year ended December 31, 2021, be approved as presented.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I will open it up at this time for any questions of our presenters, discussion, Councillor
Gillette.
Since you motion, would you like to speak first?
Yes, thank you.
I just want to say thank you for that in-depth walk-through of the financials, especially the
debt ratio.
So it's very interesting to read and just happy to see how well our city is doing, so thank
you for that great presentation.
Thank you, Councillor, are there any other questions from Council to our presenters?
I am seeing nobody up in the queue, so I just want to thank you.
The depth that you guys go through on our audit is fascinating to me, and I know it's appreciated
by our residents as well.
It's an independent review of our finances, and I was very happy and pleased to see.
It's a very clean audit and the recommendations coming forward are fantastic, so I just want to thank you for working with us, ensuring that we are getting that independent review of the finances and it's always a pleasure to see you this evening and give our best to John.
Thank you.
With nobody else on the queue, I will call the question on the motion and
thank you very much that motion has been carried unanimously.
have a good evening. We are now moving into administrative updates but we have
none on our agenda this evening. So we will get right into our
Bye-laws and first up under by law 10.1, by law c-1136-2O. So I use by law amendment for eastern
stage 2 redistricting and we are doing 3rd reading this evening. Now I do have to point out that
Councillor McDonnell, Carter and Gillette, we're not part of the public hearing process for
this, so we're going to ask them at this time just to please excuse themselves from chambers
and we will move into the presentation.
So thank you very much.
We will call you back once we are completed.
And just to clarify to those zooming in or in the gallery,
if a member of council is not part of the entire public hearing process,
they need to recuse themselves from voting on the issue before us.
So because this one took place prior to the election,
neither of the three new councilors attended that public hearing.
So luckily, we still have four with quorum so we can continue and at this time, I will ask Mr.
Alevde to please present this topic.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, here's the presentation.
Administration has brought forward a request for decision seeking council's third reading of
Bylaw C-1136-20 East in Stage 2, which is a redistricting amendment to the land use bylaw.
This by-law has received second reading and is being brought forward as the developer has now completed the development agreement process and the third reading can now be given to this by-law.
Location of eastern stage two is in the east area of the city located along McLeod Ave in the newly developing eastern neighborhood.
The east pioneer area structure plan is the by-law that provides the planning framework for the eastern neighborhood.
the area structure plan identifies the amendment area for low to medium density residential, medium to high density residential and parks and open spaces as shown on the map.
This redistricting application is consistent with the approved area structure plan.
The proposed amendment will redistrict a 2.1 hectare of southeast quarter section 2, township 53, range 27.
West 4th Meridian in the eastern neighborhood from its current district and you are urban reserve district to our one mixed low to medium density residential district or to mixed medium to high density residential district and P1 parks and recreation district as shown on the map.
The redistricting will support the development of approximately 21 single detached lots,
27 row housing lots, and a small linear park in the eastern neighborhood.
A statutory public hearing was held on November 12, 2020, prior to giving second reading,
and the advertisement of the public hearing was placed in the screw scrub examiner on November
6 and 13, 2020, as per the requirements of the Municipal Government Act.
The developer has now signed the development agreement meeting the requirements of policy
705 and third reading can now be given to the bylaw administration supports this bylaw
and that concludes my presentation. Thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation
and for introducing this item. Can I ask for a motion from one of my colleagues for third reading?
Councillor Oldum. Thank you, Mayor. I'll move the third reading
be given to Biola C-1136-20, land use by-law amendment eastern stage 2 redistricting.
Thank you, Councilor Oden. As the mover, would you like to speak on this item?
So I will open it up if there's any questions.
Councilor Stevenson. Great, thank you. First, it's so weird to see
houses in the eastern eastern going up and stuff. It just looks like three houses.
I think there's actually four basements, Doug already, so it just looks really interesting.
I just wanted to clarify, are these, like we're doing it in stages, do they actually touch
each other?
Like I'm feeling we've actually approved more than one stage of East and already.
Through Mr. Mayor, there are already a total of three stages in play.
The stage one is currently developing.
Stage two has, is in front of you today.
And immediately adjacent north of this stage, stage three, which is also on the agenda
this evening.
Stage one is critical in providing the infrastructure that leads to stage two and stage two will provide
infrastructure to the stage three.
So all three stages are currently in play, but what you're seeing out there is the stage
one.
Okay.
We've only approved one stage.
Maybe it's because we've talked about it so often the different things of I thought we
have more approved. But anyway, I just wanted to make sure we weren't, that they were all connected,
so obviously they are. Through Mr. Mayor, you have gone through three separate
bylaws because all three of them have had second reading. They literally are coming back with third
reading because the developer did not sign the development agreement. Okay. So now that they are ready
of the market certainty, they are moving forward with it. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm happy to see this finally come before us for third reading, I understand with the last couple of years it may have been challenged, but exciting to see buildings starting up in Easton and seeing this continue on for the second stage.
So I will call them most or call a vote on the motion.
We could do this one by hand.
Oh, there we are.
All right, so the question is there.
And that has been carried unanimously of the four in present
and three that had to abstain.
So thank you very much for the presentation.
We will call in our colleagues back.
If we can have them return to chambers
and then we can continue on with our meeting.
All right, thank you for returning to chambers.
I appreciate that.
But we will move on to our next item, which is 10.2.
It is by-law C-1176-21, land use by-law amendment eastern stage 3, redistricting third
reading.
I will have administration, please introduce this topic.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Administration has brought forward a request for decision seeking council's third reading
of Bylaws C-117-6-21, East and Stage 3, which is a redistricting amendment to the land use bylaw.
East and Stage 3 is located in the East area of the city, north of McLeod Avenue,
and again north of Stage 2, which was given third reading previously this evening,
in the newly developing East and neighborhood. The redistricting application is consistent with the
approved East Pioneer Area Structure Plan, which identifies this area for low
to medium-density residential and medium to high-density residential uses.
The proposed amendment will redistrict an area of 2.6 hectare of southeast quarter
section 2, Township 53, range 27, west of 4th Meridian, from its current district
UR Urban Reserve District to R1 mixed low to medium-density residential district and R2 mixed
medium to high-density residential district as shown on the map.
The redistricting will support the development of approximately 52 single detached lots and 15
row housing lots. A statutory public hearing was held on January 10, 2021, prior to giving second
reading and advertising of the public hearing was placed in the screw scrub examiner on December 24th
and 31st, 2021, as per the requirements of the municipal government act. This by-law has previously
to see second reading and the developer has now completed the development agreement process
meeting the requirements of policy 705 and a third reading can now be given to this
bylaw administration supports this bylaw. Thank you. Thank you very much for introducing this item.
I will ask now for a motion for third reading.
I have Councillor Mc Donald.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I move that third reading be given to bylaw c-1176-21.
One land used by law amendment, eastern stage three redistricting.
Thank you, Councilor McDonald.
Is the mover would you like to speak on this motion?
No, thank you.
Okay, so I will open it up for any questions or discussions or debate.
Is there any questions on third reading for this item?
I am seeing nobody in the queue, so I will call the question on the motion.
Thank you very much. That motion has been carried unanimously.
We are now on item 10.3, which is C-1184-21,
land use while amendment Harvest Ridge Stage 20,
redistricting third reading.
In the last semester, no update.
To please introduce the topic.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Administration has brought forward
a request for decision seeking council's third reading
of by-law C-1184 Harvest Ridge Stage 20,
which is a redistricting amendment to the land use by-law.
location of Harvestridge 20 is in the west area of the city located along Hemingway Crescent
and north of Grove Drive in the developing Harvestridge neighborhood as shown on the map.
The west central area structure plan is the bylaw that provides the planning framework for
the Harvestridge neighborhood. The slide shows the location of the amendment area in the context of
the overall area structure plan.
The area structure plan identifies the amendment area for mixed
low-to-medium density residential. The redistricting application is consistent with the approved
area structure plan. The proposed amendment will redistrict a 3.66 hectare area of southwest
quarter-section 8, Township 52, range 27, west of 4th Meridian, in the Harvest Ridge neighbourhood,
from its current district, you are urban reserve district, to R1 mixed low-to-medium density
residential district. The redistricting will support the development of approximately 51 single
detached lots and 26 semi-detached residential lots in the subdivision. A statutory public hearing
was held on March 28, 2022, prior to giving second reading, and advertising of the public hearing
was placed in the spruce from examiner on March 11 and 18, 2022, as per the requirements of the
municipal government act. The developer has now completed the development agreement process,
meeting the requirements of policy 7-0-0-5, and a third reading can now be given to this
Milo. At its administration supports this Milo. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Could I please have a motion for third reading?
Councillor Carter, can
you make that motion?
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that third reading be given to
bylaw c-1184-21, land use bylaw amendment, Harvest Ridge stage 20 redistricting.
Thank you, Councillor Garner. Did you want to speak on your motion?
Not at this time. I just like to say that I am happy to see this subdivision almost complete.
Yes, stage 20, it's great to see. So I will open it up if anyone has any questions or
I would like to open up for debate on stage 20.
I am seeing nobody else on the queue, so thank you very much, I will call the question
on the motion.
That motion has been carried unanimously,
and we are now moving to item 10.4, which is
C-194-22, a land use by law amendment for McLaughlin stage 4A, redistricting, and we're going
to be talking about second and third reading this evening, so please have Mr. and no update,
please introduce this topic.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Administration has brought forward a request for decision seeking Council's second reading
of by-law C-1194-22, McLaughlin stage 4A, which is a redistricting amendment to the
land use by-law.
A detailed presentation was provided earlier this evening, during the public hearing of
the by-law.
I will briefly speak to the amendment highlights.
It's located in the west area of the city, located along Medallin Common, north of Nelson
Drive, in the McLaughlin neighborhood, as shown on the map.
The proposed amendment is to redistrict an area of 1.1 hectare of northwest quarter
section 4, Tantra 53, Range 27, west of 4th Meridian, from UR Urban Reserve District to R1
mixed load of medium density residential district. This redistricting will support the development of
approximately 20 single detached lots. Administration supports this bylaw. As per city policy 7005,
a completed and signed development agreement is required prior to third reading. Since this
process has not yet completed, administration is requesting an amendment to the proposed motions
to only give second reading to the bylaw this evening. Upon completion of the development agreement,
the bylaw will be brought forward for a third reading. That concludes my presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your presentation.
Presentation, so we will only be considering second reading this evening. So if I could please have Member of Council make motion for second reading. I have Councillor Houston on that. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to move the second reading to be given to by-law C, 1194-22, land use by-law amendment, McLaughlin, stage 4A redistricting. Thank you, Councillor Houston. Would you like to speak to your motion? I just very briefly, I am very supportive of this development and I have to give kudos to one of the
Developers that are in attendance this evening and how pleased I am with the rollout of how McLaughlin is being staged and the incredible community that's being built over there
I think it's going to be a highlighted area for for a city and really appreciate it. Thank you
Thank you very much
I'll open it up for any other questions or debate for second reading.
I am seeing nobody else on the queue
So I will call the question on second reading and
that motion has been carried unanimously
So, we will move to 10.5, which is C-1195-22, land use bylaw text amendment, alcohol sales major, plan 142641, block one, block one, and we're looking at second and third reading this evening.
So, Mr. Inalabde, please go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Administration has brought forward a request for decision seeking Council's second and third
reading of Bylaws C-195-22, which is a site-specific text amendment to the Land Use
Vylaw. A detailed presentation was provided earlier this evening during the public hearing
of this Vylaw. I will briefly speak to the amendment highlights. The subject site One Dalton Link,
also known as Dear Park Commercial, is located east of Jen Highway and south of Dalton Link
in the deer park neighborhood as shown on the map.
The amendment proposes the addition of alcohol sales major
on plan 142641, block one, lot one,
under section 125, C3 neighborhood retail
and services district, under subsection one discretionary uses
as a site specific discretionary use,
and under subsection three and additional regulation limiting
this uses maximum floor area to 425 meter square.
There, administration supports this amendment for a larger retail space for alcohol sales,
as the site is located at the periphery of a residential neighborhood, and that it's
cornered location as ample access from both an arterial road and a collector to allow
visitor visits without increasing traffic through the neighborhood's interior.
Policy 70005 allows the redistricting of commercial lands to be given a third reading without the
completion of your development agreement as such a third reading can also be given to this by-law.
That concludes my presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your presentation.
I'll ask for a motion for second reading.
Councillor Stevenson.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll move that second reading be given to by-law C-1195-22.
Land used by-law text amendment alcohol sales major. Plan 142-2641, block 1, lot 1.
Thank you very much, Councillor Simonson. Would you like to speak to your motion?
Okay, so I will open it up for any questions or discussion, debate, or second reading.
Councillor Oldum. Thank you, Mayor. I would just briefly comment
that I'm pleased to see development in the Deer Park area. Com, I think our residents
have been wondering for a long time what may be coming there. And you know what, I'm supportive
of something that is going to serve the community and, uh, grateful to see this here tonight.
Thank you very much, Councillor Olden. Great comments. Are there any other
members of the council I'd like to speak? I am seeing none, so I will just express my support for
this as well. I appreciate administration recommendations being on that major
Jennifer Isleway. There isn't the impact that we see in internal neighborhoods, so I'm very
I think it's great to see some commercial development on that side of town and I know the neighborhood will be happy to see this
So I will call the question on second reading that
motion has been carried unanimously
So I will now ask for a motion for third reading this evening.
Councilor Euston.
By law C-1195-22 land use by law
Text Amendment alcohol sales major plan 142-2641
Block one lot one.
Thank you. Councilor Euston. Would you like to speak to your motion?
No, thanks. Thank you.
All right. Any other discussion or questions?
IMC nuns. I will call the question on third reading.
That motion has been carried unanimously.
Thank you very much.
Our next item on the agenda is item 10.6, which is C-1196-22.
The 2022 property tax and supplementary property tax rate bylaw.
And we are going to be talking about second reading.
So, Mr. Van Ferris, please go ahead.
Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
Yes, this is second reading of BILA C-1196-22, the 2022 property tax and supplementary property
tax rate BILA is presented for consideration by Council.
It sets the 2022 property tax rates that are necessary to pay the requisitions, expenditures
and transfers as set out in the Council approved budget.
The 2022 rates are listed in the by-law that's attached to the Council package.
And it includes year two of the 1% dedicated tax increase for transfers to the municipal
life cycle reserves, 2.9% general tax increase, continuation of the Council approved shift
of the residential non-residential rate split to move to an average similar to other communities.
So that will be to 1.46 zero ratio of non-residential to residential for the 2022 year.
That rate split is aligned with the Property Tax Distribution Policy that was approved
by Council in February of 2021.
The annual property tax bylaw sets out the assessed property values by class and calculates the
tax rates required to raise the necessary budgeted tax revenue in accordance with the property
tax policies.
The bailout also includes almost $17 million of education requisition on behalf of the
government of Alberta, as well as approximately $420,000 of Meridian housing foundation
requisition.
That's a 37% increase from the prior year for Meridian housing requisition, that's due
to increased utility and food costs, additional operating costs associated with the new office
building costs to retrofit office space into residential suites, increased wage and benefit
expenses as well as mortgage payments for the Spruce Grove Lodge land.
Annex lands are included in the bylaw as well.
Lands at Rannex in 2007 from Parkland County as well as 2021 from Parkland County.
Those must be taxed at the county's tax rate.
At this time that the report was created, those Parkland County rates were not available.
available, they will be available for the May 9th third reading, so we will be updating
the by-law to incorporate the actual rates.
Supplementary taxation is also included in the by-law.
This is for properties that are partially complete or under construction on December 31,
2021.
The amounts for the supplementary taxation are not included in the levied amounts.
They will be set based on the rates that are in the by-law and will be sent out in May
for the new construction that was completed by the end of April of 2022 and will be centered
in October for new construction completed by September 30th, 2022.
The by-law also includes the multifamily residential property rate of 1.40.
That's a continuation of the rate that was established in the property tax distribution
by-law that Council approved in February of 2021.
And this concludes my presentation and I'm available for any questions.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
If I could please have a motion for second reading.
Councillor Stevenson, thank you.
Thank you, Mayor.
I'll move that second reading be given to by law c-1196-22, 2022 property tax and supplementary
property tax rate by law.
Thank you.
Councillor Stevenson, as the mover would you like to speak to the motion?
I just wanted to say thank you.
Mr. Lumpur is for the description. There's a lot that goes into what a property tax bill looks like.
I think we say this every year, it would be wonderful for us to find a way
to educate the public of that breakdown, seeing as we do collect not just only for the city,
but on behalf of the province as well as the Meridian Housing Foundation. So as much as we can
get it out there that there is more than one light item for residents to look at and just to
this council as well I think we've done a great job looking forward and with that dedicated
1% we're starting to build those reserves which I think is a key piece which can often be missed
when people just look at that 3.9% they can often forget that we have that 1% dedicated
so that we are in a good financial position in the future so thank you for that description I'm
looking forward to having those conversations in the near future with our residents after
third reading.
So thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Stevenson.
Are there any other questions or discussions for second reading?
I am seeing none, but I will thank you for the presentation and the detail that you provided
counts for second reading.
I'm also happy to see that we are no longer adding the TLC to venture onto our property taxes.
So that's a nice thing for our city and for our residents after 20 years.
of that debenture and I appreciate just the conversation and the points that
Councillor Stevenson made that the education requisition,
Rudy and housing foundation, those are outside of the city's hands but we do use
the property tax built. The finance those and I am looking forward to how we
communicate this out to our community as this rolls through. So I will call the
question on second reading. That
motion has been carried unanimously.
The final
business item under my laws here we have 10.7 and it's C-1198-22 traffic bylaw
amendment and we will be discussing second reading this evening and I will
have Ms. Burgham please introduce our guest.
Thank you Mr. Mayor and Council.
This evening we are bringing before Council the first two readings of proposed
amendments to our traffic bylaw. These amendments will establish decibel
levels for motor vehicles, outline the testing and calibration requirements of a decibel
device, and establish penalties for exceeding those levels.
The actual amendments are outlined in the Council Report and attached by law for your consideration.
As responsibility for these aspects of the by law will be with enforcement services, chief
if costumant is available to answer any questions.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Burgham, and welcome Chief.
We appreciate you being here to discuss this topic,
and I will turn the floor over to you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
As Ms. Burgham has said, this is a continuation
of the committee, the whole meeting,
where administration was directed
to go back and look at options.
We did, brought respect to Council.
Council chose option number two,
which was to continue with the enforcement
through the Traffic Safety Act,
but in addition to add some more tools in the toolbox
within the municipal framework of our bylaws.
And tonight we have in front of you, as Ms. Burma said,
the first and second reading of the amendments
for the traffic safety or traffic safety bylaw,
pertaining to the maximum noise permitted by vehicles.
And one of the things that you like to point out
that through the legal review and the drafting
of this amendments, it doesn't just deal with mufflers.
You'll notice in there that we're dealing
with the schooling attires, revving of engines,
loud stereo systems, anything else.
and it also does not restrict that you have to have a decimal reading.
So if there was a loud noise created by the vehicle that's very short
in duration, the officers hear that, they can still proceed to an offense
on that vehicle for creating that noise, even though it doesn't get recreated.
So if they have something that the electronic device or something they fire
off from the vehicle that creates a short-term loud and annoying noise,
they can still proceed to lay charges against that into this.
And as it's been said, I'm here for any questions council may have.
Excellent.
Thank you very much.
And I will note that first reading was approved through our consent agenda.
So I will at this time ask for a motion for second reading of Councilor Carter.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I move that second reading be given to by law C-1198-22 traffic by law amendment.
Thank you, Councilor Carter.
As the mover, would you like to speak your second reading?
Yes, I wanted to say that I appreciate how well laid out this is and how easy it is
to interpret and I also appreciate that it does deal with the squealing tires and I feel
like all the base is having covered so thank you for that.
Thank you, Councillor Carter.
Are there any other questions, Councillor Stevenson?
Thank you to the chief.
I have a very quick question.
And so, under the definition of motor vehicle, it's anything that's not, like I'm not moving it essentially.
Which is a lot of things. But let's say someone has a couple of snowmobiles, and they're working on them, and they're revving them, and stuff like that. Is that considered a motor vehicle, and when they're revving and working on it, would that be a disturbance if it's disturbing the neighborhood?
Is a motor vehicle? It is, okay. And revving the engine or causing noise disturbance with that is an offense. Okay. And it would be anything like a quad, a motorcycle.
essentially anything that would fall into that motor vehicle, even if they're not
necessarily riding it, but they're working on it, if it's that decibel level,
it could be looked at under this by law.
Correct, and again, this isn't the only tool in the two blocks of deal with noise,
so we still have the other noise that you're, you know, you're mowing your lawn
at two o'clock in the morning or something, but also there's other bylaws that deal with that as well.
Right, fair enough, thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor, through you, I appreciate you being here tonight to Chief Costerman, and I'm very supportive of this.
The only question I have, and I see in our fees and fines, kind of numbers area here, this doesn't exist in other areas.
But I wanted to ask anyway, is there ever consideration for progressive fines for multiple infractions?
Mr. Mayor, through to Council, and yes, we did consider progressive fines, first defense, second offense.
But our law firm that worked on this with us, they are also our prosecutors, and
and their preference was to go with just the single fine.
It is certainly within Council's prerogative to amend that,
but that was their suggestion.
It's just a stick with the single fine for now
and that should work for us.
Okay, if you're good with that and so that was a recommendation,
I'm glad the question was asked, so thank you.
That's all, Mayor.
Thank you, Councilor Olam.
I have Councilor McDonnell next.
Thank you, Mayor, through you to our guest.
Thank you, Chief Costerman for the presentation
and I'm really glad to see this come before Council.
I know it's been talked about for a while and on a personal level, I find traffic noise,
road noise from certain, inconsiderate individuals, extremely annoying.
So I'm really glad to see that we're going to be stepping up our efforts on that.
Policies are great.
Can you speak to the enforcement piece and what's going to change with respect to enforcement?
We're going to have two by-law enforcement, full time working on this and some other by-law
offenses.
is that correct? Traffic Safety Act? I think it was in 2021 there was a pilot and I think you
indicated in your presentation materials, 14 infractions were issued. Is that a full calendar 2021
year? Mr. Mayor, through to Councilor McDonald. Yes, it is for the full calendar year. The pilot
project did not run for the full year, however, I believe it ran for eight or ten months.
So, what we did is two community peace offices are now attached to traffic enforcement full
time.
That's their main focus.
And we replaced the duties that they were doing related to regular by-laws like sidewalks
and suddenly premises, you know, parking.
We hired two by-law officers, specifically by-law officers that deal with that.
And then the remaining community peace officers all rotate through the traffic function.
But anytime they're, unless they're responding to a complaint, and if the serious traffic
the law always deal with it, but if they're responding to another complaint, they have to prioritize.
So if they're going to something like a dog currently attacking somebody, that's going to be a
priority overseeing someone to roll through a staff sign. But all of the community peace officers
have the ability to enforce the Traffic Safety Act and all of our traffic bylaws. But two people are
dedicated to it. So every single day, there's at least one person on for a period of anywhere from 11 to
12 hours that is just strictly doing traffic. Specifically to the enforcement of this, we have three
options which is one is the peace officer, notices the infraction and pulls the person over.
Two is based on public complaints. So we have a number of complaints regarding a particular
make and model in color of vehicle. They put out a bullow so beyond the lookout for it's registered
on all the the morning watch reports. If they see that vehicle and they suspect it's the vehicle,
they can pull it over and test it now with this. They don't have to see the infraction,
They can test it and just say, no, you're over.
So that's the beauty of this particular
lying within the by-law.
And the third option is vehicle safety checks.
And that would where they'd set up like a roadblock
and pull people over and check vehicles.
That would usually be done in conjunction
with an alcohol drug check on vehicles as well
with the RCMP.
So that's the three options currently in front of us.
It's fantastic.
I'm really glad to hear about stepped up enforcement
because I think that we all know perhaps in our neighborhoods the repeat offenders at least I know at least a couple in my neighborhood and I see that car and I shake my fist out of through the window and I say that guy revenues engine a two in the morning or whatever.
So I'm encouraged to see that there's going to be stepped up enforcement effort.
Mr. Mayor, through to Councilor McDowell, to make sure you phone in and report a description of the vehicle.
Absolutely.
After you shake your face, that's them.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Thank you for that.
To Councilor Oldum's point about graduated or progressive fines, I was intrigued because it was mentioned that other municipalities do do that.
Is that correct?
That is correct, and all kinds of different offenses that can exist within provincial and municipal enforcement.
One of the things that can happen, though, is that second offense is not a second offense until they're found guilty of the first offense.
If they plead not guilty right now, we're looking at court times that are over a year out, sometimes close to two years out.
So the person could actually have four, five, six offenses, and still they'll all be first
offense because they haven't been convicted of the first one yet.
So that may be a little bit confusing for the public.
So right now it was decided just best just to stick with a one offense, one ticket.
If we have a repeat person, well, we'll just watch for the more and it can get costly very
fast.
Understood.
Yeah.
report, repeat offenders, I think it was the amount of the fine because I feel as though
many people spend far more than that modifying their vehicles to make them maximally annoying
to their neighbors and people in the community.
So when I see a $250 fine, I think, well, that's not enough to change behavior.
So I certainly hope that the increased enforcement will have the desired effect.
Of course, the end result is to have no fines because people actually change their behavior.
but I'm pessimistic maybe, but I'd love to see that change.
Guy, I don't have any further comments, but thank you for the presentation.
I look forward to seeing this.
Councillor McDonnell, I do have Mr. Rolansky on the queue.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I just wanted to add to what you said earlier about one of the other methods, and you've heard
me say from this spot many times, and I can't emphasize enough that we want the community
listening to continue to call in concerns and complaints because what that does is enables
our team to find not only particular vehicles that might, but areas that might be hot spots
and then do targeted enforcement work where this meter and this type of device can help with
that. So again, for the public listening and for members of council continue to encourage
people to call in, even if they can't get there at that exact moment, what it helps us
and determine what our priorities are in enforcement actions, and we can take that.
So thank you very much. I have Councilor Gillette next.
Thank you, Mayor, through you. Thank you, Chief Costman, for being here.
I strongly support this amendment. I can't tell you how many residents I heard from
in all kinds of different neighborhoods that have been enduring these noise disturbances.
One of the questions I have, though, is, is there a communicated grace period,
Or will this new amendment take effect immediately or when will it take effect?
And secondly, what will be the way that we will communicate these new amendments to the public?
I just sort of envisioned someone getting stopped and saying, oh, I didn't know this was an issue that I would get a fine for.
So is there a way that we're going to communicate this clearly to the public?
And then the third thing is, it's really important that we do because there were so many
residents, who I think want to know that we have come up with some amendments that we've
heard them and that we have brought something to help out in this aspect.
Mr. Mayor, through to the Council, thank you, that's a very good question.
There's a couple of points there, just to touch on.
One is that these offenses were always illegal, under-provincial and other municipal bylaws.
This is adding a tool, gives us a measuring tool.
But the offense was always there, but we do want to get that message out, and we are working with communications if they would like to address the question as well.
To get two points out, one is that this is going to be stepped up enforcement. There's going to be more so make sure you tune up your vehicle.
There's also discretion on the part of the officer. So as we said previously, if they pulled somebody over and the vehicle has no modifications, the muffler is just deteriorating in time.
They will probably issue a warning and say, hey, the next 30 days, we'll get this fixed.
But if the president has modified it deliberately to make noise, they know they're making noise,
they will probably go straight to a ticket.
The second part we're looking at from a communications perspective is that, yes, counselors did go out
and knock on doors, they did hear about this, you reported this back to administration, this
was an issue, you brought it to us during the corporate planning process.
And we want to make sure that once we're out there enforcing it, that we get that message
out as well.
But, you know, the public does get listened to, we do make changes based on feedback, it's good to give feedback, and that's the other part we want to go. But again, I would yield the floor here to communications if they would like to answer the question as well.
Thank you. Through you, Mr. Mayor. Further to chief customers comments, we will be working closely with them to develop a thorough communications campaign to touch on the points that chief
has mentioned this evening to inform the community about these activities and how we will be working on
making sure that they know that this is happening and what the consequences are as well as
the benefits of why we are doing this. Great, thank you very much.
I mean, maybe Mr. Raul just add to that, that there is a little bit of period of time here because
we can't in good conscious, go out and purchase the equipment specified in a by-law until that
past a period of time where we have to acquire the equipment, proceed with the training with the
equipment, and that's the time period, I think, communications is going to focus on getting the
message out while we're doing our training as well, and that also makes a good segue into the
story. The officers doing the training is a great free way to get that media attention.
Excellent. Thank you so much. I have no one else on the queue. Any other questions?
I want to appreciate, and I want to echo my colleagues' comments, and I'm happy to see this come forward for second reading, and we'll be addressing it for third reading in the meetings ahead I assume.
And I appreciate the comments about communicating this.
You know, we did all hear this from the residents. It's nice to be able to report back that we heard. Here's some new tools in our toolbox, but along with letting the community know the expectations that we have.
for just quieting down some of those roads, especially on road drive,
Jan Isle, Sentry Road. Communications, we just have to go doorknock on those roads
and we can tell them all there's something coming. But thank you so much,
I really appreciate this and I appreciate the way we're going to go about this
and hopefully the tools will assist you and assist the community.
So I will call the question on second reading.
Thank you,
that motion has been carried unanimously.
Lastly, we have one business item on the agenda 11.1, and it is the 2021-2022 External
Board and Committee Appointments revised, and this was also approved within our consent
agenda.
So, we will move into our Council Reports, and we have two Council Reports as evening, and
we will start off with a report from Councilor Stevenson on the DLC.
Great.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I just wanted to give some good news that's happening with the Child Leisure Center, so obviously
they've been open at near full capacity, if you want to call normal, today's normal normal,
for a while now and what they are seeing is that people are coming back not just in little numbers
but big numbers. So they are seeing numbers that they weren't even themselves anticipating as a
board. I think we took a very cautious approach but we're seeing very strong numbers. I'll just give you
an idea just before the world shut down in March of 2020, we had 5,144 active contracts
that did in 2021. So last year to 2,882. So that's a significant drop in the number of
memberships. As of this year, end of March 31st, we are back up to 4,146. So they are seeing
increases like in a big amount, 1,156 new contracts. So they're seeing a lot of people coming in,
they're doing a lot of the prepays. There is a normal pickup at the beginning of the year,
because of the wonderful New Year's resolution. So this is normal to see a very strong first quarter,
but again, very strong compared to what we originally anticipated. So you can imagine that
the staff and the board is extremely happy to see this.
A lot of the programming is full.
There's wait lists for some of the swimming.
They've had to make changes because so many of the young kids that are just learning to swim
haven't been able to swim in a couple of years.
They haven't taken their first swimming lessons.
So they're making adjustments to be able to get kids in the pool.
If any of you tried to go public swimming, it was almost, they said it was crazy crowded.
they didn't even have the number of staff to be able to accommodate, so they did have
to turn people away and they made sure that they were staffed up.
The other thing, too, compared to other municipalities, the tri-leisure did a very good
job of keeping connected with the staff that they had to lay off during COVID-19.
And they were able to retain and bring back upwards of 80% of their staff, where other municipalities have not been able to hold on or bring their staff back. And they've actually had to reduce their programming, including a lot of the swimming. So just a big kudos to the tri-leisure for being able to maintain those relationships obviously a very good place to work if people were willing to come back after a significant amount of time being away. So very good news for the tri-leisure. I just wanted to share that with everyone.
And then, of course, the next big thing is that the Stony Plane Outdoor Pool will be opening in the next little while.
They're just finalizing that partnership that we have with the town of Stony Plane.
So that should be up and running in the next couple of months if Mother Nature cooperates and keeps it warm enough outside.
But overall, the tri-leisure is back.
So I just wanted to share that with the team today.
Thank you so much, Councillor Stevenson, that was excellent news. It's fantastic to hear
that the numbers are coming back. The community is getting back out there and enjoying
the facilities we have. I will open up if anyone has any questions
for Councillor Stevenson on her TLC report.
I'm seeing none, but please take Council's
appreciation for what they've been able to do, the relationship they kept with staff, and
having them be able to return and thank them for being there for the community. I appreciate
it. We will now turn the attention to Councillor Gillette for a convention conference report.
Through you to my colleagues. About two weeks ago, I attended the Alberta
seniors and community housing conference and trade show in Calgary. Among our speakers
was the Honourable Josephine Pond, the minister of seniors in housing. She shared on the
province this 10-year strategy and new legislation to improve and expand affordable seniors
housing, emphasizing partnerships with housing providers. Part of their
strategic plan to outline how to access to the affordable seniors housing
system will be improved by keeping it sustainable and becoming more efficient.
The Alberta Seniors and Community Housing Association, or ASHA's, core roles
are advocacy and access to resources to assist housing providers with
services as they offer a variety of housing options. They proudly champion all sectors of
seniors housing including public, private, and voluntary providers offering independent
and supportive living spaces. In terms of our community housing representation, that would be
the Meridian Housing Foundation and St. Michael's Health Group offering non-profit and public
community housing options. Our regional housing bodies are striving to meet the increasing
demand with additional living spaces such as the under construction phase one five story facility
in the Fenwick area, as well as the much anticipated possible future construction of the 102 unit
lodge facility by Meridian Housing. As a strong supporter of seniors living and housing that
honors their dignity, serves their needs, and inspires purpose in our chosen community, it was great
to attend this conference. The focus nature of learning at a conference allowed me to
really dig deeper and learn much more about the challenges that were facing other communities
like ours and to gain a better understanding of new proposed ideas. There are many presentations
of programs and services and best practices to assist seniors and to promote their safety
and well-being. So I attended these workshops and made connections that will enable me
and my colleagues to continue to support the development of affordable senior housing
and to advocate for our residents to have access to housing options through accountability,
engagement and collaboration. Thank you. Thank you so much Councillor Gillette for providing us an
update and I really appreciate that you attended this conference and your learnings and your
relationships that you built and the knowledge that you're sharing with us on Council, and
we appreciate that you taking the time to do that additional learnings and to reach out
because seniors housing and housing in general is an issue and it's first growth in most communities
in this province, so we appreciate it. Does anyone have any questions for Councilor Gillette
on her report?
I am seeing them, so thank you very much for your report. We will next move to
information items and we have none on our agenda this evening. I will ask if there are any members
of Council who would like to provide a notice of motion this evening.
I am seeing none. So we will
move on to next we have closed session but there are no items scheduled for closed session this evening
and therefore there is no business arising from our closed session so we are at the final stage
and I'll just ask a member to make a motion to adjourn.
Councilor Oldam.
Motion to adjourn, Mayor.
Thank you, Councilor Oldam.
I'll call the question on the motion.
Thank you very much, that motion has been carried.
This meeting is adjourned, so everyone please be kind and be safe out there.
Have a good night.