1) 74th FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) Conference
The City's Executive Assistant is requesting the Committee to designate one Councillor or the Mayor plus the City's CAO to attend the FCM Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 3-6, 2011. Given the economy is in bad shape and this conference is so far away and the limited outcomes to be received by attendance at this conference, WL Council should skip attending this conference as both the City of Quesnel/CRD are both members of FCM and we could ask them to bring us back information being presented at this conference. FYI - costs for 1 member of WL Council/City CAO + travel to attend this conference is $4,329.00. If Council waits after March 31st, then the cost goes up to $4,589.00. See City Staff's report here
2) Surcharge for homes with "Basement Suites" for Water/Sewer
On Tuesday - City Staff will bring forward 2 Bylaws to amend both the City's Sewer Works and Water Works Bylaws to allow the City to formally charge a 20% surcharge to homes with Secondary Suites (Basement Suites) - see the Staff report here (Sewer Works) and here (Water Works)
When these items were discussed in 2010 - people commented:
• Should be more than 20% (30% mentioned)
• Could be even higher depending on the area of the secondary suite or based on the number
of bedrooms
• Should be a minimum of 50% as there is at least a 50% impact. These suites are revenue
suites and should be paying their share of the increased costs.
• Also have an additional charge for each suite
• It is likely that this cost will be passed on to the tenants in the form of a rent increase.
• Family size and habits are a better indicator of utility usage
• When houses are metered for water use, then the actual costs should be charged
• Meter everyone, pay on usage
• No, let the homeowner and the tenant cut the existing bill in a way that works for them
• If a single guy rents the basement to a lone parent, they are collectively still using less than
a family of four. This was expressed by many respondents.
• Utility rate should be based on the number of persons living in the house not on suites
• Revenue for by law enforcement is going to be a major issue.
• Taxes are high in the City. It is not fair to single family home owners to have to subsidize
the services for others who are enriching their wealth.
• This is just a tax grab
• The rate should be equal to that for a home owner i.e. $1000 (2 households)
• More usage of utilities will occur
• Property values
Again - I believe that the fairest way to make homes with secondary suites pay their fair share is to institute water meters on every home and let each property make appropriate choices for water/sewer use. If a property in question needs extra cans for garbage/recycling collection - I'm sure that reasonable minds will come into play and split the cost in some way. As these bylaws (Water/Sewer Works) are regulatory bylaws - a public hearing is not required however when Council brings forward the Zoning Amendment Bylaw to allow for Secondary Suites in R1/R8 zones - a public hearing is mandatory prior to Council adopting it
3) Regulating Metal Containers
This is a new item for local governments in this area - See City Staff's report here. Very recently - the CRD Board dealt with this item as well and resolve the following:
Moved Director Ted Armstrong (Area ‘A’) ; Seconded Director Steve Mazur (Area ‘E’) :
“That the agenda item summary from Graham Barbour, Chief Building Official and Manager Responsible for Bylaw Enforcement, dated December 17, 2010, regarding regulating the use of steel shipping containers as building components, be received.
Further, that the following be endorsed as a policy of the Cariboo Regional District:
Steel Shipping Containers as Building Components
That the following procedure be followed by staff when Steel Shipping Containers are being used as components within buildings or structures.
a) Free standing steel shipping containers are not regulated through the CRD Building Bylaw or the BC Building Code.
b) Steel shipping containers shall not be used as building components or used to support structural members of a building or structure.
c) Steel shipping containers may not be covered by a roof of any kind unless the roof structure is completely independent of the steel shipping containers.”
It'll be interesting to see how WL Council deals with this item
4) Woodland Drive Water/Sewer Servicing
As noted previously - Mayor Cook will more than likely declare a personal conflict of interest on this matter as she resides on Woodland Drive herself. I suspect a huge chunk of the 49 residents of Woodland Drive will attend the Committee of the Whole meeting tomorrow to hear what the Committee will recommend to WL Council on the future direction of the City providing Water/Sewer services to Woodland Drive residents. You can read the City Staff report here
One discussion for the Committee will be - what kind of grant that does Council seek? - 50%, 66%, 75%? As discussed last Thursday at the City's 2011 Budget Meeting, Council is highly unlikely to seek a 100% grant from Ottawa as odds are, it'll get turned down. Once a decision is made on what level of financial support the City is seeking from Ottawa - then the question becomes how to finance the City's share and the report lays out what happens if the City funds 100% vs City funding as little as 20% to individual property owners in the City of Williams Lake plus how much each Woodland Drive property owner pays. Stay tuned - one way or the other
Finally - the Committee is continuing to review the City's Draft OCP by reviewing Sections 4.9, 4.10, (Resilient Economy & Local Food/Agriculture), Section 5 - Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets - see here
One question I have - if WL Council is sending this out for public comment, why not wait and hear back from the public? One would think that Council would have time to review the Draft OCP beforehand as usually a Council gets to see this type of document(s) and comment on it before the general public does? Just asking.... :)
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