Battleford town council passed a bylaw and a resolution with respect to land issues in the town.
The bylaw that passed Monday called for the town to enter into an agreement with SaskPower with respect for an easement of right-of-way for urban electrical distribution services for Block-Parcel B, where a new well is under construction.
"It is on the downstream side of the old bridges, so there's a well that's being constructed. The pipeline is under construction and this would be the easement for the power to that website," said Mayor Derek Mahon to reporters after the meeting. That bylaw passed unanimously in three readings.
The other vote was on a resolution regarding waiving a proposed Lot 2 Block 98 buffer for a commercial lot in Battleford West, to be located adjacent to the lot where a proposed Tim Hortons is to go.
Community Planning had requested a one-metre buffer on the lot to control access, but developer Dean Kupchanko made a request for council to waive that requirement, as solid curbing will be constructed on 29th Street West and 5th Avenue West where the buffer strip was proposed to be.
The access/egress to this lot will be from Battleford Cross and/or Prince Bros. Road as designed.
"Because it's solid curbing that will control access, we can waive the buffer strip requirement," said Mahon. The resolution waiving the buffer requirement carried unanimously.
Other items from Monday's meeting included a presentation from Battlefords Early Childhood Community Planning Network with respect to the Battlefords Children's Charter, a vision statement of the rights of children based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
North Battleford council heard a similar presentation at their meeting a week earlier, where they passed a motion endorsing the charter. Battleford town council passed a motion to do the same.
In reports, 13 business licenses were issued for April for $2,565, bringing the total to 137 for the year for $21,735.
That compares to 19 licenses the previous April 2012 for $5,645 with a total for the year to date of 149 licenses for $24,280.
Two development and building permits were also presented for a value of $338,400. One was for a detached garage for $13,400 and the other for a single detached dwelling valued at $325,000.
One notable item in the report from the works department was that the pothole patrol had started, with utilities superintendent Kevin Cheykowski describing his department as "busy." He noted his department has received a couple of calls on potholes, but Town Hall has been receiving most of them, so far.
Councillor David George took the opportunity to point out a "monster" pothole at 4th Avenue and 35th Street at the stop sign there. Council made clear they knew about the abundance of potholes, as Mayor Mahon called potholes a "fact of life" at this time of year.
Another item brought up at the meeting were sightings of some interesting new Battleford residents. Mayor Mahon reported "three moose, at least" were spotted on Finlayson Island.
"They've been spotted by numerous people at numerous times," said Mahon, who urged people to be careful. "They're wild animals," the mayor said.
Also of note was the resignation of long time town grader operator Carl Beland. Beland had been with the town 31 years, and councillors expressed their appreciation for his work over the years.
Finally, a date has been set for the next budget session, which is tentatively set for April 22 at 4 p.m. It is expected town budget deliberations will wrap up that evening.
