Monday, November 14, 2016

City Council Preview: Monday, November 14, 2016


As they head into the homestretch of for 2016, with only three regular council sessions remaining before the holiday break, tonight's agenda sets a tone for some housekeeping issues for the most part.

The main portion of tonight's work features reviews of zoning applications, with the owners of the Skyline Manor seeking to change the zoning of its property on Summit Avenue near the Hospital.

Council will also review and vote on whether to move a Variance Permit for the Prince Rupert Yacht Club to the final consideration stage.

Council members will also learn more on the introduction of a Business facade improvement program for the city, with grant funding to be made available for participating business operators.

The City's Financial Officer will bring the parade of reviews to an end, by updating council on the financial results from the Variance Report of September.

One other item is on the agenda for tonight, the return of Councillor Joy Thorkelson's motion related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project proposed for Lelu Island, with Councillor Thorkelson set to make her quest for the support of Council to with hold the support of the City for the project unless six conditions are met by Pacific NorthWest.

Below we'll highlight the different elements of this evenings work from the Regular session Agenda, for further background on each item, the page number from the Agenda is listed in red.

You can review the background documentation for tonight's Regular Session from the Agenda here.

Council also will be holding a Closed Session  for this evening starting at 5 PM, the city citing criteria from Section 90 of the Community Charter, noted that the public is to be excluded from those deliberations for the following reasons:

90.1 (k) negotiations and related discussion respecting the proposed provision of a municipal service that are at their preliminary stages and that, in the view of council, could reasonably be expected to harm the interests of the municipality if they were held in public.

As for the Regular  Council session that starts off with the adoption of agendas and minutes.

Petitions and Delegations and any Unfinished Business open up the evening as well as Reports and Recommendations

Report from the City Planner-- Council will receive an overview related to an application to amend the current zoning for the property located at 1200 Summit, with the owner of the Skyline Apartment Building seeking to reinstate density levels that were permitted under a previous zoning bylaw. (see page 11 of  the Agenda)

Report from the City Planner-- Council will receive an overview related to an application for a Development Variance Permit for  121 George Hills Way, The Prince Rupert Yacht Club. (see page 25 of  the Agenda)

Report from the Economic Development Officer -- Council will hear some background on the Business Facade Improvement program (see page 37 of  the Agenda)

Report from the Chief Financial Officer -- Council will receive a report on the September 2016 Financial Variance Report (see page 39 of  the Agenda)

Correspondences for Action are then next, with Council to receive a request from the Bank of Montreal with a request for Free Ice Time for a Fund Raising initiative (see page 21 of  the Agenda)

That is Followed by any items under the themes of Resolutions from Closed Meetings.

Bylaws mark the next item of the Agenda on the night

The evening then moves on to Additional Items from Council members, as well as Reports, Questions and Inquiries from Members of Council.

Councillor Thorkelson will present her Resolution to Council related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project, providing six conditions for City Council members to consider and asking Council not to support the PNW LNG project until they are met, those conditions include:

1. The project is relocated to another area not in the estuary of the Skeena River. One industry should not put another at risk of our City should remain with a diversified economy. 

2. The project must consult with the area’s local governments and our residents as well as with First Nations. 

3. The City’s water supply is monitored and a specific set of responses, agreed to by the City, are in place to rectify any increase in acidification or eutrophication. 

4. Negative economic or social consequences will be identified by the City and PNW LNG prior to the project going ahead and solutions agreeable to the City are identified. 

5. Adequate contributions, agreed to by COPR, for rebuilding and maintaining Prince Rupert’s infrastructure are identified and scheduled. 

6. Alternate forms of clean energy are identified and their development are committed to by PNW LNG.

Council members will also offer up any items or concerns that they have for consideration on the night.

The Live broadcast of the City Council session can be found here, a video archive of past sessions is available here.

Our archive of items related to the November 14th session can be found here.

While our archive of all sessions of 2016  for council  is available here.




No comments:

Post a Comment