Weyburn city council decided to reject a bid to rezone a lot from medium industrial to heavy industrial, made by Regens Disposal to enable a solid waste transfer station facility to be built at their property on 18th Street.
Weyburn city council decided to reject a bid to rezone a lot from medium industrial to heavy industrial, made by Regens Disposal to enable a solid waste transfer station facility to be built at their property on 18th Street.
A petition with around 20 names, representing residents of 18th Street, plus two letters of opposition, were cited as reasons for council's unanimous vote to reject the request, and to keep the land as medium industrial.
Regens proposed to develop a junk/salvage yard for recycling, and in the future to build a solid waste transfer station; the recycling use is allowed as a discretionary use on medium industrial, but the solid waste transfer station required the rezoning to heavy industrial-by-contract.
"There are no technical or policy issues which would prevent approval by council," said Martino Verhaeghe, director of planning and development, but he made note of the opposition expressed to the idea. He also pointed out that council is not bound to wishes of residents, but said they should consider the expressed wishes of residents.
An area resident who presented the petition said all but two residents of the 100-block of 18th Street signed the petition.
All councillors voted against the request, and most expressed the same sentiment, that while recycling would be welcome here, they want to work with the company to find a better location for the solid waste transfer station.
"We're more than willing to work with this business," said Coun. Rob Stephanson. "I think we'd like to see this lot left as medium industrial."
"I think it's important businesses are welcomed to Weyburn, and I don't think anybody on 18th Street would have a problem with recycling," said Coun. Dick Michel, adding of the voiced opposition, "We respect and listen to the citizens of Weyburn."
He said recycling is one thing, "but when you bring garbage into it, I will not support it at that location."
Coun. Winston Bailey echoed their concerns, saying if it was only paper and cardboard being brought in, that would be okay.
"We want to work with this company; we want them in this town, we need them in this town," he added, but this site would not be appropriate for a transfer station.
Coun. Laura Morrissette suggested the company meet the environmental resources committee to plan out better how they want to work in the long-term.
The issue of the city's sign bylaw was discussed by council, with four options presented, and councillors requested that administrators draft an independent bylaw according to the second option provided, and then provide a series of options regarding fees to be charged sign owners, with one councillor opposing yearly fees, but other councillors opposing a one-time fee.
The option chosen is for a business license to replace the need for a permit for the signs, with enforcement costs to be covered by the fines levied.
The suggested fee in this option was $78 a year, to cover the application review process, the same as is charged for billboards. However, Coun. Michel said he could only support this if it were a one-time fee, noting this was the bone of contention raised by two city businesses who operate sign businesses.
Under this option, portable signs would be permitted in most any zone in the city with the exception of residential areas, and third-party advertising would be allowed. (Other options presented would prohibit third-party advertising.)
"I don't think the location of the signs are an issue; it's the administration fees that are the stumbling block," said Coun. Michel, noting one of the business owners who approached the city on this has been in business here for over 30 years, "so I think it's important that we do this. The administration fee is a cumbersome thing."
Verhaeghe pointed out there are rules about administration fees, namely that they must go towards the department that is managing the system, and secondly, they cannot charge more than the cost of administration. In other words, no profit can be made from the fees.
Coun. Stephanson spoke against having just a one-time fee.
"Lots of taxpayers don't want to pay taxes every year either. I'd love to pay the taxes on my house once and never pay again," he said, noting the cost for the fees would just be passed along to the customer anyway.
Verhaeghe then suggested the administration could present some options about how to handle the fees, and council agreed to go this route.
The number of building permits issued by the city are down from last year, but the city is poised to post a new high for value of construction, said Verhaeghe.
In his report on building permits issued to the end of October, he noted so far in 2013, the city has issued 105 permits worth $62,862,112; this compares to a year when the city had issued 144 permits worth $32,333,200.
A total of 101 new dwelling units are being created, worth $22.4 million; of those, 22 are single family homes worth $9.97 million, and 79 are multiple-family dwellings worth $12.43 million. In addition, phase 2 of the Comp construction added $27.18 million to the total, putting this year's total above 2012 in value already, with two months still to go.
