Steve Rant - Outcome of March 16th Committee of Whole Council Meeting

WL Council, meeting in a Committee of the Whole, had a good meeting including:

* Adopting a Wood First Resolution
* Recommend 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reading of a new Solid Waste Bylaw
* Recommend that the skateboard park at Boitanio Park be considered for renaming to Nathan Matthews Skateboard Park

With regard to Bylaw 2115 (Solid Waste and Recyclables) which will give Council permission to charge fees and give Staff certain powers with regard to the Solid Waste Collection system in the City.

I was disappointed that Council gave City Staff the power to charge Secondary Suites a $10.00 per month fee for use of the Solid Waste Collection service, in addition to charging a $65.00 per bin fee to the property owner (for their secondary suite's garbage/recycling needs) because I think that Council is taking the issue of "Secondary Suites" and doing piecemeal planning to it. If we are going to deal with Secondary Suites in the City, let's look at the issue from a holistic point of view and decide how Secondary Suites will be dealt with from a Zoning & Official Community Plan point of view and to which city services that individuals, who rent a secondary suite, will be required to pay for (ie - garbage, water/sewer, etc)

That will get the community further ahead on the issue of both secondary suites and affordable housing, rather than looking at it from a issue-to-issue perspective