Dean Midyette and Steve Hubrecht
The Valley Echo
Canal Flats may soon make some amendments to its dock bylaw, following discussion on the matter last week at the village’s most recent committee of the whole meeting.
The topic was the sole subject of the Monday, December 11th committee of the whole meeting. It was driven principally by councillor Marie Delorme and sprang from a request for such amendments from from former Calgary Flame and current Painted Ridge developer Mike Vernon’s company last summer.
The Valley Echo attempted to get further comment from Delorme after the meeting, but was unable to reach her prior to press deadline.
At the end of the meeting the committee made a motion directing staff to draft up an amendment for the bylaw that would divide the village’s waterfront into three zones — a zone for lakefront properties; a zone for “second-row homes” (those that are close to, but not quite on, the lakefront); and a zone for Tilley Memorial Park.
The lakefront zone covers 28 properties in the village and would allow one dock per property. The second-row zone covers 33 properties and would result in four to eight docks on Lake Columbia to be shared among the second-row homes in a ratio ranging from one-dock-per-four homes to one-dock-per-eight homes.
There was some discussion around what to do with the villages’s other four public access points to the the lake (aside from Tilley Memorial Park), with some suggestions to the effect of having various community associations request tenure for them and in so doing, take responsibility for maintenance of them, while at the same time providing access for homeowners without lakefront properties.
Questions remained on whether or not renters should have access to the docks and whether or not foreshore structures and buoys would be permitted. It was also unclear whether the docks at the Tilley Memorial Park would allow for day moorage and space for for canoe, kayak and stand-up paddleboard rental businesses.
Village staff estimated it will take three months to draft the amendments, and then get them approved and passed by council.
Presentations
During the council meeting immediately following the committee of the whole meeting, Canal Flats council heard three presentations — from East Kootenay Community Energy Manager Megan Lohmann; from Columbia Valley Chamber of Commmerce executive director Susan Clovechok and Regional District of East Kootenay Area F director Wendy Booth; and from Headwaters Arts Society representatives Dodie Marcil and Leslie Cartwright.
Lohmann’s presentation was similar to the ones previously given to Invermere and Radium councils and highlighted the initiatives to be undertaken under her role, including energy efficiency incentives for homeowners, the East Kootenay Energy Diet, creating more electric vehicle charging stations and developing a region-wide commercial organic waste diversion program for composting.
The economic development course summary presented by Clovechok and Booth contained a Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the Canal Flats economy, provided an action spreadsheet and asked for feedback and progress reports to be given to the committee.
Marcil and Cartwright proposed to council that a historical mural be painted on the north wall of the Discovery Centre, which would include important historical figures, logging industry and Ktunaxa First Nation.
The estimated cost of the mural was $10,000 to $13,000. The pair asked that the project be included in the village budget so that it can be “on the shelf” for grant applications, but did not actually request funds from the village.