A set of animal control bylaw changes, which includes a requirement for cat owners to buy licences, has been passed by Carrot River council.
Bob Gagné, Carrot River’s mayor, said at council’s Oct. 18 meeting the changes to the dog, cat, dangerous animals and livestock bylaws ensure the town’s rules reflect the times and that there’s uniformity between the bylaws.
“We want to be proactive,” he said. “If somebody comes in, we have bylaws in place where we can say yes or no on whatever they’re looking for.”
The bylaw, which also changes the cost of buying a licence for dogs and cats, was unchanged from the proposal first examined at the last council meeting Sept. 20.
Development bylaws to be reviewed
The reform of the animal control bylaws was part of an effort by Carrot River to update its bylaws. The next set of bylaws the town wishes to review relate to development.
While the town’s community plan and zoning bylaws have been reviewed recently, the building bylaw, created in 2011, has not.
“Our building bylaw hasn’t been [changed] since we’ve redone our zoning and community plan and there’s very much some stuff that relates, so we need to update our building bylaw,” said Kevin Trew, the town’s administrator.
The town wants to ensure that its building rules are comparable to other communities. It also wants to patch some flaws in the current rules. For instance, there’s no end date for building permits, leading to a situation where some buildings are taking an extraordinarily long time to complete.
Byelection set
A date for a byelection to replace Aaron Dyck on council has been set.
It will be held Dec. 13. Nominations to run for the position have to be received by the town by Nov. 8.
