By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn city council gave approval to two developments to proceed, including a PCB storage facility for SaskPower, and a group care facility that will see a second storey built onto the former St. Dominic School building on Fourth Street.
The public and neighbours in the proximity of SaskPower’s facility on Ebel Road were asked for concerns or comments, and none were received by city staff about the proposal.
SaskPower is proposing a 40-by-80-foot cold storage building for old transformers containing PCBs, which are currently being stored outdoors on their property. This storage facility will include an impermeable liner with concrete curbing to ensure any accidental release of PCBs will be contained.
The proposal was approved with a number of conditions, including that there be no additional access to the site, no water or sewer connection be made to the building, and that all provincial and federal regulations for hazardous materials be followed.
For the group care facility, Coun. Mel Van Betuw excused himself from council as he is the owner of the developing company, Van Bee Holdings, which bought the former elementary school and is developing the building.
His proposal is to renovate and convert the south wing of the former school, and add a second storey, with 14 residential units proposed.
As there is additional space being proposed for this development, it will be subject to the offsite development levy, calculated to total $98,114.
Some of the residential units are proposed for the second storey, which prompted some concerns from residential neighbours that the view would overlook neighbours yards, and the suggestion was made for the windows to be opaque to provide a sense of privacy to the neighbours.
Van Betuw asked council to reconsider making this a condition, pointing out that no one will want to stay in a unit where there is no clear window to the outside.
This had been listed as one of several conditions of approval, but at Van Betuw’s request, it was removed as a condition, and the development approval was passed by council.
The Weyburn Police Commission turned down a proposal for the Weyburn Police Service members to take part in an experiment wearing body cameras.
Coun. Rob Stephanson told council that Simon Fraser University made the request to the police department, as they are studying to see if there is a change in behaviour of police officers when wearing cameras while on patrol.
He said the police commission wanted more information about this, and decided at this time not to take part.
The police commission also was told there were 12 incidents where the use of force was reported, including two high-speed pursuits.
When these incidents were reviewed, two of the incidents were determined to be a violation in the use of force, and action was recommended to be taken in regard to the officers involved, to ensure excessive use of force would not reoccur in the future.
In the monthly police report, he said crimes against people was down by two, crimes against property was down by nine, with total calls down by 23, which was an ongoing trend for the Weyburn Police Service.
A concern raised was that the city’s portion of fines for 2015 was reduced by the province, even though the collection of fines themselves had not gone down.
In asking the province about this, the city was told a number of other communities had also raised the same concern, so the department will conduct an internal audit to try and determine why the fine sharing was being reduced.
With the onset of the provincial election, however, the results of the audit will not be released until June.
An offer for the old ladder truck for sale by the Weyburn Fire Department was approved by council.
Fire Chief Simon Almond provided a report on the sale of the truck, which is a 50-foot telesquirt unit, recommending an offer from the Carlyle and RM No. 63 Fire Protection service of $15,500 plus taxes.
Chief Almond said there was interest expressed from Carlyle, the town of Rosthern and Silverado Demolition, but only Carlyle’s fire department made an offer on the truck.
He said he obtained opinions from three fire apparatus dealers on what the fair market value of the truck would be, and was told the truck should range from $15,000 to $35,000 in value.
Chief Almond also provided council with a report of fire department responses, noting there were 14 calls for service, two from outside of the city.
Seven were false alarms, one involved a vehicle, one involved hazardous material, and one was a carbon monoxide alarm, with one call to assist the EMS ambulance service.
The fire department also carried out 14 inspections, and one tour of the fire station was given to a group of youth.
Asked if the department tracks false alarms, Chief Almond noted they do keep track of their location and whether it involves an occupied building, and check to make sure if maintenance is required that it is done.
