Proposed Graffiti Bylaw & Heritage Registry

On Tuesday, Williams Lake Council is meeting in Committee and two items they are considering have me concerned (For the Record – I have contacted Mayor Cook and Councillors Walters and Bourdon on these items and as of Monday, I've not yet received a response)

1. Proposed Graffiti Bylaw

City Staff had approached the Policing Portfolio, chaired by Mayor Cook, around the need for a Graffiti Bylaw earlier this year and the direction Staff received on May 11^th, 2010 was to prepare a Graffiti Bylaw for consideration of Council.

Major points in the draft Graffiti Bylaw include:

• $500-$2000 fine for those caught tagging or placing graffiti on a property (residential or business)
  
• Property Owners will be required to cover over the tagging or illegal graffiti at the request of the Bylaw Officer, if he/she observes tagging or graffiti on one's property. If the tagging or graffiti is not removed within a 2 week (14 days) period, then the City would have the right to enter onto one's property, do the work and charge the property owner for it and recover those costs, by way of debt to the City or Property Taxes in Arrears

A major concern of mine is that Staff appear not to have consulted with the Local BIA (Business Improvement Area) or the Williams Lake Chamber of Commerce or even the general public at large on this draft Graffiti Bylaw prior to it and applicable comments from stakeholders/public being submitted to Council for their discussions. Staff/Council should have consulted with the Chamber, BIA and the general public on the subject of Tagging and Graffiti prior to now and I'm sure some option, other than a bylaw, would have come out of those discussions to solve the issue of graffiti and tagging in the City of Williams Lake

1. Heritage Registry

Staff are proposing the City setup its' own Heritage Registry and place the "Potato House" and "Station House Gallery" on the Registry. Note – the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) has had a Heritage Function/Registry along with a Heritage Advisory Committee since 2007

Three problems with this proposal:

1. No analysis as to why the City rejected joining the CRD's Heritage Function in favour of starting its' own.
   
2. No criteria or definition of "Heritage" or "Heritage Building"? Are the Potato House/Station House Gallery the only two buildings that would go on the City's Heritage Registry?
   
3. City Staff have suggested that a "Community Heritage Commission" be established in the future. How about using the City's Advisory Planning Commission and expand its' mandate to include protection of Heritage Buildings in Williams Lake, now and in the future as part of what it does. Why re-invent the wheel...?