Public hearings were held on Bylaw 324 – Land Use Bylaw Amending Bylaw – Commercial Development Allotment Transfer Fees and Bylaw 325 – Land Use Bylaw Amending Bylaw – Existing Gross Floor Area Transfer Fees. There was one written submission, but no verbal submissions to council. Following the hearing, council gave both second and third reading to both Bylaws.
Melanie Watt of the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley gave a presentation to council on the group’s work in the area. The group is based in Canmore, but runs programs in Banff, like the Bow Valley One-Tonne Challenge and Bow Valley Mountain Air Program. Watt also spoke about their newest programs, Wildlife EduKits and Home Sustainable Home.
Banff resident April Wood made a presentation to council regarding the recent parking changes outside the Post Office. Wood was asking that council reconsider the parking restrictions put in place outside the building to allow parking a non-peak hours. Council explained the changes were only for a trial period this summer, weekends and holidays and would then be reviewed. Town staff told council eight new angle parking spots would be created in Central Park, and council asked the Sign Committee to consider whether some or all of the stalls could be marked shorter term parking for those using the Post Office.
Bylaw 320 – Land Use Bylaw Amendment – Transferability of Commercial Use Development Allotments, was given third reading.
Bylaw 321 – Land Use Bylaw Amendment – Existing Commercial Gross Floor Area Transferability, was given third reading with one amendment from Coun. Leslie Taylor, that there should be an online notice of the existence of the transfer registry.
Council voted to adopt an amended Council Remuneration Policy reflecting the recommendations made by the Council Compensation Review Committee. The policy comes into effect for the next council elected in October 2013. Highlights of changes include: The position of mayor will be considered a full-time position. The mayor should receive $77,000 per annum, and council members should receive one-third of that of the mayor ($25,500 per annum). Base remuneration will be adjusted effective January 1 each year by the same percentage salary change granted to Town of Banff employees. And an independent committee should be appointed every four years to review council remuneration. Council made one amendment to the recommended policy regarding per diem payments to council for attending meetings outside the Bow Valley. The definition of Bow Valley was changed from only Banff and Canmore to include the area between the Francis Cooke Landfill to Lake Louise.
Council approved a motion of participation for the Collaboration on Technology for Municipal Service Delivery project. The City of Lethbridge, in conjunction with participating municipalities, is in the process of developing a plan to assess opportunities for shared technology service delivery across Alberta.
Council accept the 2012 Housing Needs Assessment as prepared by Housing Strategies and made it available to the public. They also direct the Banff Housing Corporation to communicate the report and its recommendations to Parks Canada, the community housing strategy committee, non-profit housing providers and other housing related community stakeholders. They also voted to direct the Banff Housing Corporation to produce a strategy to implement the recommendations in the report within the housing corporation’s 2014 business plan.
Council voted in favour of increasing the engineering department’s operating budget by $19,488 to cover a planned expansion of the capital project workload for September to December of this year by providing additional staff to complete the workload in-house. Funds will be drawn from General Capital Reserves. Administration will return with a proposed operating budget increase for 2014 to 2017 as part of the 2014 budget deliberations.
Council approved construction of a bridge to extend the Legacy Trail along Norquay Road from Railway Avenue to the Fenlands parking lot. The bridge will be a “sister bridge” to the Bow River pedestrian bridge. Council approved an associated capital budget increase of $96,350 for the project, with funds coming from General Capital Reserves.
Council accepted, as information, a report on the progress of capital projects approved for 2013. The summary showed goals for 2013 as well as the current status of projects.