Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

A Kindersley resident has asked the town’s elected officials to consider appointing a local development appeals board.

Brett Bacon appeared at the council meeting on July 17. He told council he recently went through the development appeal process because the house on a property he owns was built too deep on the lot and it was preventing him from building a new garage.

He noted that if he was to build the garage according to the town’s bylaws, he would have to tear down a wall in the house. Bacon said the garage would touch the house and he filed an appeal to see what could be done.

He told council he soon learned that the town no longer appoints local citizens to a development appeals board and the process is handled by a firm in Regina. He said he is trying to build a garage and he believes that having an appeals board outside of the community has, in a way, prevented him from getting his project approved.

Bacon said he wanted council to pass a motion to start the process of getting a local development appeals board in place. He said he believes it would be better to have local taxpayers sitting on the town’s appeals board.

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Councillor Shaun Henry said the town’s previous council did not believe there were enough strong candidates to maintain a local appeals board. There were a couple of strong candidates but not enough for the local board to continue, he explained.

He noted that the town put out a request asking for new public members to apply for the board, but people did not respond. Henry said the town had to have a board in place, so council outsourced the task to a qualified firm.

Bacon asked if there was a process for people to get training to become members. Henry said the town has to have the right people in place because the process has to be done fairly and according to the rules and regulations. People do not have to be experts, but they need to know the rules and the process, he said.

Mayor Rod Perkins said he believes council would be willing to revisit the idea of having a board of local citizens to hear development appeals. He said the town has good people doing the appeals now, but he understands the Bacon’s concern about having local representation.

Councillor Dean Galbraith, who told council he was a member of the local development appeals board when it folded, said the board has to follow certain rules regardless of where it is located, so having a local board might not make a difference.

Bacon told council he was not at the meeting to discuss his appeal. He said he believes the town needs to have a local board to hear development appeals, so the request was his main reason for attending the meeting.

Audrey Hebert, the town’s acting administrator for the meeting, said Gord Krismer and Associates Ltd. is the firm appointed for development appeals. She said council appointed the firm to act as the appeals board for 2017, so council would have to wait until 2018 to appoint a new board.

Council heard that new bylaws might have to be drafted if a local board is to be appointed. Hebert said the board only deals with a couple appeals each year, but the number could spike if development increases. Three members are required for an appeal, but the board needs more than three members to avoid any conflicts of interest, she added.

Galbraith said it takes more than common sense to be on the board, so appointing members is not as easy as people might believe. Council did not pass a resolution, but the delegate was told the town would explore the interest for a local board.

Other meeting highlights

  • Council passed a resolution to appoint the town’s department of transportation and environment to be an owner’s adviser for the new regional landfill project.

Kim Vogel, the town’s director of transportation and environment, said Western Regional Landfill Inc. is working on the construction contract for the project. The regional landfill authority asked the town to be an owner’s adviser, so the resolution was before council, she explained.

  • Council passed a resolution to cancel more than $95,000 in municipal property taxes and more than $36,000 in school taxes in arrears on a property in Rosedale.

The taxes were owing on land earmarked for stages 2 and 3 of the Rosedale Phase 7 subdivision. The town purchased the land back from a developer late in 2016, but the unpaid taxes were still owing. Council heard that the town received permission from Sun West School Division to cancel the school taxes and it should be easier to sell the property after the taxes were cancelled.

  • A council resolution approved the use of office trailers as a discretionary use for a property located on Fifth Street West behind the Subway restaurant.

Mayor Perkins said the proper notice had to be given to properties within 75 metres of the property in question, so council passed a resolution to approve the discretionary use as long as no written submissions opposing the use are received by the town before July 19 at 4 p.m. Perkins said council’s next meeting is in August, so members did not want to keep the applicant waiting until after the August meeting.

  • Council defeated a resolution to increase the ice rental rates for users of the West Central Events Centre and Co-op Arena. Council members agreed that the rates are high enough for user groups and the extra revenue from the rate increase could be recovered in other ways. Mayor Perkins said the staff complement has been reduced by 1.5 full-time equivalent positions, so the change should save money.
  • The town’s elected officials approved a home-based business on First Street East as a discretionary use. The approval is subject to no written submissions in opposition being made before 4 p.m. on July 19. The home-based business will provide paralegal services.

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