Committee of the Whole Mtg (WL Council) - Dec 10th

Present - A/Mayor S. Zacharias (Meeting Chair), Mayor Kerry Cook (entered meeting at 6:29pm), Councillors Bonnell, Bourdon, Hughes and Rathor

Staff present:

Darrell Garceau - City Manager (CAO)
Geoff Goodall - GM of Planning & Operations
Grant Martin - Senior Bylaw Officer
Wendy Dahlman - Corp Services Clerk

Meeting called to order at 6pm by the Chair
Meeting Agenda approved (remove item re: CAO-WL Council relationship discussion) and Minutes of Nov 26th COWC meeting were also approved

Delegations:

1) S. Smith, G. Stevenson and J. Moon appeared before the Committee to discuss their concerns in regards to Min of Transportation's Highway 97/Toop Rd project.  Concerns expressed include need for City to do independent traffic analysis, inability of City to formally respond to residents' letters/petitions and deal with left hand turn problem from Highway 97 onto Carson Drive

A Question and Answer period ensued
The Chair thanked the delegation for their time/information

Resolved - Delegation be received and that information presented to the Committee tonight and previous information from delegation be presented to Council at its' Dec 17th 'for the public record'

2) Kathryn Steen from the Station House Gallery Society appeared before the Committee to discuss the future of the Station House Gallery

A Question and Answer period ensued
The Chair thanked the delegation for their time/information

Resolved - Delegation be received and that this matter be referred to the Community Services Committee for development of an Action Plan for the Station House Gallery Building and further the delegation be invited to appear before this Committee

Business:

1) Residential Snow Removal and Parking

The Senior Bylaw Officer reviewed this item with the Committee
Discussion ensued

Resolved - That the Committee recommend to Council:

The report of the Senior Bylaw Officer dated December 3rd, 2013 be received and that Council endorse the proposal to align residential snow removal to the day preceding garbage collection

2) Downtown Snow Removal and Parking

The Senior Bylaw Officer reviewed this item with the Committee
Discussion ensued

Resolved - That the Committee recommend to Council:

The report of the Senior Bylaw Officer dated Dec 2nd be received and that Council maintain the status quo for snow removal in the Downtown Core for this snow season (2013-14)

Both Mayor Cook and Councillor Walters declared a perceived conflict of interest on the next item as they both are employees of TRU and left the meeting at 7:27pm

3) TRU Parking Issues

The Senior Bylaw Officer reviewed this item with the Committee
Discussion ensued

Resolved - That the Committee recommend to Council:

The report of the Senior Bylaw Officer dated Dec 4th be received and Council support the following restrictions in regards to parking near the TRU Campus:

1. No Parking signs be installed from Blair to Midnight for the entire area on the TRU side of Western Avenue. This would address the current safety issues for vehicles pulling out of TRU onto Western as no vehicles would be parked on that side of the street allowing great visibility. 

2. For the six residences across from TRU allow a “Resident Only” parking system where residents are given tags to be left on their dash to allow only those vehicles to park in this area. 

3. Allow unrestricted street parking from the corner of Comer Park extending towards Columneetza on the park side of the street (this would allow some on-street parking, roughly 30 spots for students). 

4. The end of this area as you approach Columneetza would be restricted to only 15 minute stopping to allow parents to pick up/drop off their children at Columneetza. This area would extend to opposite the 4th residence in from Latin Street. 

5. To ensure school buses the room to turn into the Columneetza School Bus pickup area we would extend the No Stopping area past Latin Street to in front of these first four residences on Western from Latin. 

6. The remaining area in front of the residences on Western continuing to Blair would be made as “Residential Parking” Only. 

7. Blair Avenue on the lower end towards Western would be made No Parking on both sides of the street (one side is already No Parking). This street is very narrow and with vehicles parked on either side school buses can barely get by. 

8. Latin and Beauchamp would be made as “Residential Parking Only” zones.

Councillor Rathor attempted to move a motion to ask the provincial Minister of Advanced Education to review this matter (imposition of parking fees on TRU property without formal consultation with the City of Williams Lake) however it failed, due to the lack of a seconder

Mayor Cook and Councillor Walters returned to the meeting at 7:47pm

4) 11th Avenue Parking Concerns

The Senior Bylaw Officer reviewed this item with the Committee
Discussion ensued

Resolved - That the Committee recommend to Council:

The report of the Senior Bylaw Officer dated December 6th be received and Council impose 'no parking' on the east side of 11th Avenue from McKinnon Road to Pigeon Avenue

After a brief recess, the Committee of the Whole then adjourned to a closed meeting of Williams Lake City Council at 8:02pm