By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn city council gave third and final reading to the Traffic Bylaw, which will maintain the speed limit generally throughout the city at 40 kilometres an hour, but will introduce school zones of 30 km/h.
A late change which will also take effect with the bylaw is that city police will now have the authority to have vehicles towed from a street if it is not moved for the purpose of snow removal, street sweeping or other road construction or maintenance.
“This is to allow city crews time to do repairs or maintenance work. There will be signs giving residents time to remove their vehicles from the street,” said city clerk Donette Richter.
Police chief Marlo Pritchard added the plan is to have signs giving residents 24 to 48 hours to move their vehicles, after which they will tow any vehicles still left on the street.
After the meeting, chief Pritchard said now the bylaw has been passed, it will take some time for administration to figure out if the vehicles will just be towed to an adjacent street, or to an impound yard. His preference would be to a nearby street, with the resident getting the bill for the tow.
“This is something new to Weyburn residents, having vehicles moved,” said Coun. Winston Bailey, adding that by leaving vehicles on the street, “we’re doing half a job, so I’m in favour of doing this.”
He asked if residents are going to be notified of this change, and Mayor Debra Button said notification will come through signage, and through the media, as well as through the notification system using texts and phone calls currently used by the city.
The original proposed bylaw also sought to ban all snowmobiles and ATVs from operating within city limits, but council agreed to maintain its separate bylaw which allows snowmobiles to use trails to access Sud City on the east side, and the Esso and McDonalds on the west side of the city.The city will work with the Souris River Snowmobile Club to set access routes that will be acceptable to both parties.
Council gave first reading to a water conservation bylaw, which will require residents and property owners to only water their grass three days a week, with hefty fines proposed for violators, in light of the dry conditions and a drop in the water supply in the Nickle Lake reservoir.
The bylaw will be brought back for final approval at the Tuesday, May 24 council meeting, giving city residents two weeks to make any comments to members of council or City Hall about the water conservation measures.
Nickle Lake is about three-quarters of a metre below full supply, prompting the city to take the water conservation measure.
“It’s very hot and dry. We think it would be wise to have water conservation. The long-range forecast is not very optimistic for much moisture,” said city engineer Sean Abram.
Under the proposed bylaw, odd-numbered properties will be able to water on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while even-numbered ones can water on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and no watering will be permitted on Wednesdays.
Anyone with a newly-established lawn can be exempt from the restrictions, but the property owner must get a permit from City Hall so the city can track water usage, and to prevent the owner from being fined.
After doing research and only finding one community that levies fines, the fines are proposed to be $250 for a first offence, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third offence. For commercial properties, the fines would start at $2,500 for a first offence, up to $10,000 for a third offence.
“It’s meant as an incentive to conserve water,” said Abram. With the bylaw waiting until May 24 to be passed, it won’t take effect until May 31.
A tax exemption on newly-developed vacant lots ran out this year, and lot owners will now have to pay 25 per cent of the base tax this year, and 50 per cent next year.
After some discussion, council felt the city has to recoup some of its costs from some of the services provided, such as snow removal where vacant lots are located.
“I oppose it because honestly I think it’s a tax grab on vacant properties,” said Coun. Mel Van Betuw.
