City Council hosted a Zoom Online Public Hearing as part of their work during Monday's Council Session, the Hearing a resumption of the suspended session of late August
The resumption of the Public Hearing for the proposed Apartment complex on 11th Avenue East dominated the bulk of Council's time and attention on Monday night, with only a few other items on their Agenda for the night to detract from the main event.
Among the other themes to explore, an after the fact variance request for a homeowners carport project and a letter of support towards the Prince Rupert Swim Club.
The night ended with Questions and Comments from Councillors Adey, Cunningham and Skelton-Morven.
Council also hosted a Closed meeting, marking the sixteenth such session which has been closed to the public in 2021.
The details related to the reasons for the in camera session can be reviewed here.
Further information from our overview and placement in the video archive can be found below, with the permanent record of the council minutes added as they are posted to the city website.
In attendance Monday, October 4, 2021
Mayor Lee Brain -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Nick Adey -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Barry Cunningham -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Blair Mirau -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present (Participated by Zoom) Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa -- Present (Participated by Zoom)
( 0:00 -- 1:29:00 )The City Council hosted a Public Hearing into a rezoning request towards a proposed Apartment Building off of 11th Avenue East. The session was a lengthy one lasting to one hour and thirty minutes and provided a forum for a range of opinions and statements related to design of and surrounding themes associated with the proposed Lax Kw'alaams apartment housing development. As well, the Zoom session provided for another opportunity for those living in close proximity to the land in question to share their concerns over some of that planning.
( 1:29:00 -- 1:30:00) Regular City Council Session for Monday, October 4, 2021 -- Mayor Lee Brain called the session to order, adopting past minutes and the Agenda for the session, adding one item to the night's work, that a traffic report related to the Park Avenue Hotel proposal
( 1:30:00 -- 1:42:00) Report from iPlan, Mr. Robert Buchan provided a short overview of a Development Variance Request for a property on Prince Rupert Boulevard -- Council heard a report from the city's contract planner related to a request for a variance related to a carport that has been constructed in the wrong location and will require a variance to make it a legal at its location.
Councillor Niesh led off the discussion with his observations of his frustration with the work being done without going through the proper process and how the home owners have now have come looking for a variance.
It was a theme that many of the Council membership followed up on during the course of the discussion, some more than others expressing their frustrations with the proponent's reticence at following the rules, while a few offered up suggestions to address the issue.
Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller, provided detail of a note of concern from a resident in the area related to the situation and in opposition towards the variance.
At the end of the discussion period, City Council moved to deny the variance permit.
City staff will now explain what is ahead for the property owner and the carport project.
( 1:42:00 -- 1:43:00 ) Report from the Corporate Administrator related to a request for support from the Prince Rupert Swim club -- The Mayor outlined the request for a letter of support related to the Swim Club's efforts towards accessing a COVID related grant.
Council approved the request to lend support
( 1:43:00 -- 2:45:00 ) Report from iPlan related to the proposed 11th Avenue Apartment Housing development -- City Council reviewed the Public Hearing process and spoke to some of the themes addressed in both the August session and that of earlier in the evening.
( 2:45:00 -- 2:57:00) Questions, Comments, Reports or Inquiries from Council
Councillor Nick Adey led off the final portion of the night, inquiring of staff towards providing an update on some of the storm related damage of the last week.
The City's Operations Director Richard Pucci outlined the tale of carnage, noting of a number of areas that the city has had to address, those included:
The Lester Centre suffered flooding on Monday and Tuesday night, with water pumped out and an assessment currently underway towards ensuring a similar situation does not take place in the future.
The Golf Course suffered some infrastructure damage to the bridges on the course, they are currently being replaced with work required on one of the structures for certain.
There was a landslide on Wantage Road across from the Hatchery and the road has been closed, consultation is underway to address the slide and the public is urged to avoid that area.
There was some road flooding in some areas, with the public asked to lend a hand in their neighbourhoods by clearing drains on their streets.
The Industrial Site on the city's east side saw some significant flooding in the Mishaw road area, more ditching will be required in that area to address that situation.
The wastewater treatment facility suffered some flooding, but the City was able to catch it and make sure that no releases of untreated material took place.
There was flooding on the pathways of McClymont Park which will require some remediation of the area.
Bob's on the Rocks suffered some flooding as well, there were tree issues reported behind the Crow's Nest along Park Avenue, and the City will be doing some selected tree clearing
As well, there were several homes in the community that suffered some minor flooding issues that they will handle through their personal insurance.
Mr. Pucci noted that he would prepare a report for Council upon further assessment of the situations of last week and what other elements can be take to address future situations.
Councillor Cunningham had two topics of note for the night, in his first he asked the Director of Operations about a timeline for road painting in the community; in reply Mr. Pucci noted that with a weather window set to arrive a crew was coming into town this week to put some focus on the School Zone areas as requested by the City.
Mr. Cunningham also advised the public that Northern Health would be attending the October 25th Council session, adding that as Northern health wants the questions ahead of time, if any residents have questions to address them through the Council members. He urged the public to participate and raise any of the questions or concerns over health care or the hospital this was the time to get in touch with Council.
Councillor Skelton-Morven returned to speak once again to the work of city staff and their dedication to the community, as well as to return to his reflections on the themes he had expressed as part of the housing discussion previous in the night and to again speak out against some of the commentary from the evening, noting how this was an opportunity to build bridges in the community and serve the collective.
And with that the October 4th Regular Council session came to an end.
The Mayor then took the Council members back into their In Camera - Closed Session from earlier in the evening to finish off their work that had paused for the Public Hearing and Regular Council Session.
You can access our Council Session Archive page,where a number of items regarding the Council session, including links to local media coverage can also be found.
As always, our Council Timeline is only a reflection of our observations from the Council Session of the night. Be sure to consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to their website for further review.
Official minutes of the Regular Council Session from October 4, 2021
(not available yet)
The next scheduled Regular Council session as part of their reduced summer schedule will take place on Monday, October 25, 2021.
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