MD Council meeting February 14, 2012

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

The Municipal District of Pincher Creek No.9 Council met on the afternoon of February 14, 2012.  A delegation composed of Canyon School Principal Carole Goodreau, Assistant Principal Chad Kuzyk, and Matthew Halton School Principal Sandy Treit  addressed the council with a discourse regarding the challenges facing local schools, titled "Schools can't do it alone".  Click here to read more about that.

8 MD employees on standby
Director of Operations Leo Reedyk presented his regular report to council.  According to Reedyk, 8 MD employees have signed up for standby duties.  Every two weeks these individuals will be scheduled as standby personnel.  "It's not a requirement for position at this point," he said.  Reeve Rod Zielinski asked "Will standby be a duty in the new job description?"  CAO Wendy Kay said "We were not able to make it part of the collective agreement, but it is now part of the job description.


The person that is on standby has to have enough knowledge to call the right person to deal with it  (an incident that may occur requiring an immediate response)."   Reeve Zielinski said it must be included in future job descriptions, "Otherwise in 10 years you won't have anyone on standby."

Local family nominated for Calgary Stampede Farm Family Award
  George Mowat and family are nominated for the Calgary Stampede Farm Family Award for this the 100 year anniversary of the event.  Councillor Helen Cyr asked for and received permission from Council to attend the Stampede on their behalf to support the family.

Bobby Burns Fish Park repairs
The intake structure for the Bobby Burns Fish Park was seriously damaged during the flooding of 2010.  An estimate by Genivar put the total estimated cost of fixing the water supply system at $78,400.  Reedyk said he saw the whole area as a nature preserve in the future.  "Will funding pay for the whole works?" asked Reeve Zielinski.  "Yes," said Reedyk.  "I regard this as a major facility for recreation in this community," said Councillor Bjorn Berg.  "An easement to the benefit of this property would be a good idea, so nothing is going to be built on top of it,"  "I think that it should be regarded as a donation to the fish pond and the Bobby Burns area, and that would actually have a monetary value," said Berg.

Council unanimously approved Reedyk's suggestion to continue with the recovery project, to be funded by the Alberta Disaster Recovery Program.

Tennessee Ridge Area Structure Plan 
The proposed condo development to be located north of Pincher Station passed second reading at the previous MD Council meeting held on January 24, with Reeve Zielinski and Councillor Helen Cyr opposed.

MD Development Officer Roland Milligan spoke to Council about the proposed project at this February 14 meeting.  "Nothing has changed from the plan," he said.  Of concerns about density said "Basically 10 acres per lot is the density, more of a cluster, with a whole bunch of land not being used as a lot."  Reeve Zielinski said he wanted a caveat added so that no other lots are allowed to be created within the presently proposed boundaries of the pronect.  He also again raised concerns about the quality of the roads to be built. "The roads should be built to MD standards," he said.  According to Milligan "access can be a requirement of the subdivision abpproval, to mitigate snow removal issues."

"It is very clear that the plan is a condo setup," said Zielinski, again indicating he was not in favour of the condo model being applied to the project.  "You can still put in more regulations in the subdivision process," said Councillor Berg.  "I think that the biggest issues when we sent this back to drawing boards was the single well and the garbage disposal issue.  The only way they could do that was via condominium act, because it then becomes the responsibility of the condo association to deal with those issues. Road clearing begs further policy discussion around this table, prior to further developments of this nature."  Councillor Terry Yagos said "I'm impressed with how much work went into this."

With discussion concluded third reading of the motion to approve the development was carried.

Water Bottles for Basketball Tournament
MD Council decided to pay half the expense up to $500 for promotional water bottles, to be handed out at the upcoming Provincial Basketball Tournament.

Heritage Windfarm Noise Control
Council discussed a letter received from the Alberta Utilities Commission.  In that letter AUC proposed to change their Noise Control rules regarding operations of wind turbines.  Additional proposed provisions to Rule 012 state as follows:

• 1:  For the noise impact assessments, the sound power level from the wind turbine must correspond to the turbine operating at its maximum electrical output.   Applicants must indicate the sound power levels at all operating wind speeds ad provided by the manufacturer.
• 2: In a post-construction non-compliance situation, the operator may be required to reduce the wind turbine noise emitted from the turbine using alternative operating modes.  The operator must indicate how the mitigation plan results in compliance with the permissible sound level.

"I've never seen Rule 12 before," said Councillor Helen Cyr.  "There's about 56 pages on how noise is measured."  "Heritage Acres is asking for a variance for a bunch of reasons," said Councillor Berg.  "We need a plan to notify landowners that the land is zoned for windmills," he continued.  Council directed Administration to craft a letter to that effect for review.

"AUC and AESO can't get this thing right," said Berg.  "They think we're a stakeholder, not a governing body. I want them here," he said, indicated the Council Chambers. "AESO files the need, it immediately goes to AUC and we're out of the process."

Councillor Berg made a motion to ask AESO to come and speak to the MD Council.  It passed unanimously.  The item was also put back on the agenda for the first week of March.

Edna Thompson retires from Lundbreck Council
Councillor Terry Yagos mentioned in his report that Edna Thompson had retired from the Lundbreck Council after 40 years of service.  Thompson has been on the Lundbreck Council since 1971, and her extremely positive attitude will surely be missed.

MD of Pincher Creek Enhanced Policing Monthly Report Highlights for January, 2012
Presented to MD Council by RCMP Pincher Creek Rural Community Policing Officer

• 112 violation tickets issued for a fine value of $12,781.  
• Violation ticket locations:  Beaver Mines- 86, Highway 3/6/507 (PC)- 9, Highway 3/507 (CNP) - 2, Highway 22 - 15.

Miscellany
According to Councillor Bjorn Berg, Regional Water is not dead.  Stay tuned for further developments.  Berg also clarified that several other Councillors are pursuing governance educational opportunities (see: Berg Gets Schooled in  MD Council Meeting notes, January 24  .  We will  follow up on that as well.