North Battleford council has put on ice a proposal by a local entrepreneur to operate a mobile ice cream stand on modified all-terrain vehicles.
Council narrowly defeated a motion to proceed with a bylaw allowing modified ATVs to be used for business purposes.
It was a stunning about-face from the last council meeting when councillors gave the green light to considering such a bylaw. But a host of issues stopped the proposed bylaw from getting any further Monday.
"It became apparent that the extent and the detail of such a bylaw, to make it a safe endeavour within our boundaries, was pretty prohibitive to do on a timely basis," said Mayor Ian Hamilton, noting it would have been too taxing on administration to deliver such a bylaw in a timely manner.
"Enough council members felt it was just too taxing on the administration to do so," he said.
The entrepreneur, Micah Poynting, had sought a new bylaw that would allow modified ATVs to be used for such a business. Council had directed city administration to start work in preparing such a bylaw at the last council meeting in April.
Some recommended guidelines and restrictions were brought to council for discussion Monday, including such things as items each ATV being equipped with dates and times of operation.
However, lingering concerns about ATVs plagued the drafting of a new bylaw from the start. ATV use is currently illegal in the city limits, and the use of such vehicles has been a longstanding headache for city officials due to residents' complaints about noise and other concerns.
It also became evident that the drafting of a new bylaw was going to be a time-consuming undertaking and that passage of any new bylaw would not happen in time for Poynting to operate his business this summer.
The continued state of limbo had put pressure on Poynting's business. Poynting sent an e-mail to City Clerk Debbie Wohlberg dated May 4, where he noted time was of the essence in getting such a bylaw passed so his business could operate during the summer. In that correspondence Poynting stated if he could not start selling soon he "may have to close up shop and get out of Dodge."
Poynting had earlier stated he had hoped to have the ATVs approved and the business up and running in May.
Council voted on a motion to direct administration to proceed with drafting the bylaw. That vote ended up being a 3-3 tie.
The tie vote meant the motion was defeated.
Ironically, while the proposed ATV bylaw melted away Monday, council did approve Poynting's application for a business license later in the evening. However, that license covers only a permanent establishment for specific ice-cream sales and for a street-legal vending vehicles, and not ATV use.
Getting cold feet at Monday's meeting were councillors Don Buglas and Ron Crush, with Crush voicing his strong discomfort with the whole concept of allowing ATVs for this purpose. He said he would not support the bylaw for that reason.
"I have continued difficulties with being the first community in Saskatchewan to entertain, however that might look, the usage of ATV vehicles in our community," said Crush, who also spoke against the idea at the last council meeting.
Buglas also voiced concerns about the proposed bylaw, saying he wasn't sure if this was the right thing for the community to do. He wondered if the business had considered any other possibilities of using other street-legal equipment - not ATVs - in which case it would simply be a question of issuing a business license.
He said recreational vehicles were something many residents "didn't want running around in our communities."
There was continued support for a new bylaw, as councillors Grace Lang, Ray Fox and Rhonda Seidel continued to vote in favour. But even they noted the difficulties council would face in getting such a bylaw passed in a timely manner and wanted to see the issue properly considered.
Lang continued to speak well of Poynting and his proposed business, but even she noted it would take a month for the proposed bylaw to pass and it would likely be the middle of June before it was enacted.
Not present at council Monday was Councillor Trent Houk, who spoke favourably about the proposed ice cream business at the previous meeting, while expressing concern over ATV use in the city.
Hamilton cast his vote alongside Crush and Buglas against proceeding with the bylaw, and those three votes proved to be enough to end the bylaw efforts.
Hamilton noted more time would have been necessary "to do justice to this, because it is a somewhat controversial situation, allowing such uses in city limits to off-road vehicles such as this."
