Under the Committee of the Whole portion of Forestburg council’s regular meeting on Thurs. Feb. 4, where councillors can speak on different topics pertaining to their community, a couple of proposals were brought forth by the local fire department.
One was the request to give volunteers the ability to use green lights on a personal vehicle that alerts other drivers they should let firefighters pass.
Each municipality is given the option to look at allowing this form or emergency light.
Council discussed the idea but did not reach a decision they wanted to move forward with.
The second proposal was a junior firefighter program for youth in the community aged 14 to 18-years-old.
“Council was very supportive of moving forward to establish a junior firefighting program in the community,” said Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dwight Dibben in a telephone interview.
The formal policy will be brought forward at a future meeting.
Consolidations bylaw passed
At the last council meeting during Committee of the Whole, administration presented a draft amendment to the consolidation bylaw to expand its provisions and rename it as the Consolidations and Corrections Bylaw.
Council accepted the new bylaw which allows administration to not only consolidate whole bylaws into one but also allow for the administrative consolidation of sections of bylaws, repeal of bylaws that are inoperative, obsolete, expired or otherwise ineffective.
In addition, this bylaw allows administration to correct clerical, grammatical and typographical errors without requiring council approval as well as alter citations, titles, numbers and arrangements without requiring Council approval.
Despite the additional power, administration will not be allowed to make massive changes or intent behind the bylaw which is still left for council’s decision.
Ice plant shutting down
Much like the rest of Flagstaff County and the east central region, Forestburg is following suit in shutting down the ice plant for the arena for the remainder of the year.
With no income and no real end in sight to reopen to the public, the decision was made by the arena association board to close.
As of Tues. Feb. 9, provincial regulations have changed to allow some access. The local board will be meeting tomorrow to discuss future plans on if they wish to reopen or not.
Shed heights exceeding homes
A stipulation within the village’s land use bylaw has proven to be difficult for some residents.
The stipulation explains that any home that has an accessory building such as a garage or shed must be taller than that additional building.
For many mobile homeowners, this has been noted as difficult with many new buildings being at least a foot taller than the home.
First reading was passed to allow additions to be taller than the main dwelling within the residential district.
There is one resident in the village that wishes to construct but is restricted by this measure as they have a mobile home.
“We don’t just have one mobile home, we do have many and some of them do not even have garages let alone sheds and should they ever want to construct this is going to be an impediment,” said CAO Dibben.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
