City Council to hear pitch from staff to seek recognition at UBCM for recent Civic rebranding project

Council members will consider whether to put the 
new civiv branding up for nomination for awards
at the UBCM meeting later this summer

City Council will hear a request from the Communications office tonight to put forward the recent civic rebranding project up for consideration for upcoming awards with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

The request will come through a report from Communications Manager Veronica Stewart who will make the case for the City to submit the work for a 2022 UBCM Community Excellence Award.

As part of her notes, Ms. Stewart notes of the unique adoption of a corporate brand that marries the local Ts'mstyen perspective to the community's City of Rainblows identity.

Among our neighbouring communities, Prince Rupert is unique in our adoption of a corporate brand that closely involved indigenous artist Russell Mather in a more standard re-branding process with an established firm. The end result marries the local Ts'msyen perspective with a simple design that is highly effective in its application across multiple platforms and sizes. The new brand also reaffirms the community’s identity as the “City of Rainbows”. 

The intent of the application is to celebrate the City’s unique approach to developing a community identity, as well as the work of Russell Mather, Will Creative, and the feedback provided by our focus group of community members

Her report can be reviewed below:

As we noted earlier this year,  Prince Rupert Council embraced the new look with effusive praise back in March. Noting of the need for an upgrade from the look of 1910 that had been the city's image.

The project to develop the new civic image began over two years ago coming out of the Rupert 2030 Vision process, it had a slight delay on the way to launch owing to COVID.

The final cost of the new look came in at 105,000 dollars, an increase from the original estimate of 2019 that had set a cost of 75,00 dollars. 

The rebranding project was paid for through a dividend from the Prince Rupert Legacy financial instrument.

More notes on tonight's Council Session can be explored here.

A wider overview of past Council discussion themes can be reviewed here.

Council to receive report on Cannabis Regulation and what City may or may not be able to about it

It has been a topic of note in the community for many months, with the ever present smell of cannabis growing in the city, particularly the downtown area making for a number of questions from residents asking if the City can do anything about it.

The issue became the significant part of the conversation follow a recent fire downtown which consumed a pair of local businesses. 

Such was the tone of discussion coming out of that event, that Mayor Lee Brain spoke briefly to the topic, promising a more detailed response once a civic report was delivered.

Those additional comments from the mayor could come tonight, with Council set to receive a report from the city's Corporate Administrator which will highlight some of the challenges the City faces in taking action on the issue.

The report notes of the difference between medical and non-medical grow situations and offers up two streams for the Council members to follow towards the situation in the city. 

One a recommendation of a new by-law to regulate cultivation, the other a call to continue to lobby the Federal government to bring change to their handling of the issue:

Staff is recommending to Council that a bylaw be created to regulate cannabis cultivation through the use of nuisance (odor) considerations as well as imposing building code, electrical code and fire safety regulations. Any bylaw drafted will need to ensure it does not conflict with federal or provincial legislation and recognizes the supremacy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

In addition, Staff is recommending that Council lobby upper levels of government to address the issue through amendments to the Cannabis Act using Federal of Canadian Municipalities (“FCM”) resolutions, letters and meeting requests with relevant federal departments.

The Corporate Administrator will also look to deflect further conversation from the community on the topic towards the Federal government, offering up a destination and a form for residents to register their concerns.

The City of Prince Rupert is not in a position to take complaints or answer questions in regards to the legality of (medical) grows in Prince Rupert as the City receives no notice or has an opportunity to comment on zoning compliance. 

Residents are encouraged to send their complaints directly to Health Canada at the form included in this Report to Council. 

This information will also be uploaded to the City’s website.

The form that the City is directing residents to use can be accessed here.

The full report from Ms. Rosa Miller can be reviewed below:

click to enlarge

The full documentation of the proposed Bylaw and where it would be applied can be examined as part of the Agenda for tonight's session.

The Council Session starts at 7PM at City Hall or you can view it through the City's live feed.

As we've noted the topic has been somewhat of a long running narrative for City Council you can review some of the past engagement to the topic here.

More notes on tonight's Council Session can be reviewed here.

Past council discussion themes can be examined from our archive page.

Public Hearing tonight makes for latest step for proposed Port City Spirits Distillery

The Public Hearing for the Proposed Port City Spirits
small scale distillery and tasting room takes place tonight

The proponents of a proposed Distillery and Tasting Room for the old U Brew location on Fraser Street will gain the feedback of their neighbours tonight, with the proposed use for the location to be the topic for tonights Public Hearing on a Zoning Bylaw amendment to allow for the use.

The Hearing is set for 6 PM in Council Chambers

As we outlined previously this month, the pat to Public Hearing was charted at the May 9th session, following a report from City Staff on the proposed small scale distillery and tasting room, as part of the review, the city's planning staff observed how the proposed development fits into the city's Official Community Plan and a desire for more development in the downtown core area.

The topic will return to the attention of Council later this evening as well, scheduled as an Agenda item for the Regular Council session starting at 7PM

More notes on tonight's Council session can be reviewed here.

Our previous noted on the proposed use of the building can be explored below:

May 16 -- Prince Rupert City Council sets May 30th as date for the Port City Spirits Public hearing 
May 12 -- Proposed Small Scale Distillery on its way towards public notification, public hearing
May 9 -- Proposed Distillery for downtown Prince Rupert up for Council Review tonight

More notes on past Council discussion themes is available here.

City Council Preview: Monday, May 30, 2022

The Final Council session for May arrives tonight, with a wide range of items of note ahead of the city's elected officials, among them a 6 PM Public Hearing where those who may have comments or observations on the proposed Distillery for Fraser Street will have a chance to have their say with Council.

The Regular Council session features a report on the City's response to community concerns over cannabis grows in the downtown area and other parts of the city, as well Council members will receive a report towards submitting the city's rebranding work for a potential UBCM award.

A variance for a downtown window front and then consideration of the results of the Public Hearing for the Fraser Street business proposal will make for the wrap on the session.

It being a Committee of the Whole night, Council will also receive a presentation from Susan Crowley of the Prince Rupert Hospice Society.

An advisory at the top of the Council Agenda Page notes of the return of proceedings to the Council Chambers and offers up guidance for the public on how they can participate with the civic process.

Tonight's Council session starts at 7PM and can viewed by way of the Live Feed from the City Website, or on Cable Television from CityWest Cable Channel 10/310.

The session is normally posted to the City's YouTube archive within 24 hours of the session concluding.

You can review the Regular Council Session Agenda package here.  

Council will also host a Special Council Session  

The 5:00 PM meeting is closed to public for the  elements of the Community Charter cited below:

The acquisition, disposition or expropriation of land or improvements, if the council considers that disclosure could reasonably be expected to harm the interest of the municipality; 

the receipt of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.

That meeting tonight marks the   Tenth Closed Session hosted this year by Council to date.

The outline of Council's work ahead for the evening can be reviewed below:

************************************************************************

REGULAR SESSION OF CITY COUNCIL

Adoption of Agenda and Past minutes -- The Mayor will review the agenda for the evening and Council will adopt the minutes of past meetings.

Reports and Resolutions

Report from Communications Re: Application to UBCM Awards for Branding project  -- Council will receive a report from the Communications Office that outlines the plan to submit the City's Municipal branding program for consideration as part of the UBCM Awards process.  (see page 8 of the Agenda package)

Report from Planning -- Re: DVP 22-12   -- Council will receive a report from Planning related to a proposal for window signs for a property at 255-257 Third Avenue West   (see page  10 of the Agenda package)

Report from the Corporate Administrator - Re: Cannabis Regulation     -- Council will receive a report from the Corporate Administrator related to the research and preparation of bylaws to regulate, prohibit or impose requirements on controlled substances and to lobby the Federal government to address the issue of regulation through Federal legislation   (see page 17  of the Agenda package)

Bylaws

City of Prince Rupert Zoning Amendment By-law 3492-2022 -- Having held a Public Hearing earlier in the evening, Council will consider a proposed amendment for the zoning of a property on Fraser Street to allow for a Distillery and Tasting room  (see page 20  of the Agenda package)

The evening will come to an end with any Additional Items as well as Reports, Questions and Inquiries from Members of Council.

Council members can  take advantage of the period to 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 items of note related to the May 30th session can be reviewed here.  

While our archive of all sessions for 2022 for Council is available here.    

City Council Session: Monday, May 30, 2022

Our archive of items from the session can be found below.

Regular Session of Council for  Monday, May 30, 2022

Home page and archive of sessions can be found here.   

Live Broadcast of session can be found here

Notice for Public Hearing for Property on Fraser Street (6 PM)

Agenda for the Regular Council Session for Monday, May 30, 2022 (7 PM)

Agenda for the Committee of the Whole Session for Monday, 30, 2022 (7 PM)

Notice of Closed Session (5 PM)

Preview of the Council Session for Monday, May 30, 2022

Attendance

Mayor Lee Brain -- Present
Councillor Nick Adey -- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham -- Present
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Absent
Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven -- Present
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa -- Present

Minutes of Regular Session of Council, Monday May 30, 2022

Video Recording for Monday, Monday May 30, 2022 Council Session 

Council Timeline, Monday, May 30, 2022

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North Coast Review Items related to the Monday, May 30, 2022 Session of Council 

Prince Rupert and District Hospice Society seeks advocacy to move end of life care into Health  Care element

Prince Rupert's Pentecostal's make plans for new Community Church in Downtown area of the city

Council moves forward on path towards recognition of rebranding project at UBCM awards time

Container use in Residential areas again on the mind of City Council

Community petition on health care reaffirms Council's concerns over health issues in Prince Rupert

Public Hearing brings support for Port City Spirits proposal, moves zoning application forward 

Council Cannabis Discussion one of Challenges, Direction and Deflection 

City Council to hear pitch from staff to seek recognition at UBCM for recent Civic rebranding project

Council to receive report on Cannabis Regulation and what City may or many not be able to do about it

Public hearing tonight makes for latest step for proposed Port City Spirits Distillery

Further notes, as well as any Media items from other sources for the May 30, 2022 session can be found in our Discussion Points from City Council Feature.   

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

Real Estate Tracker: Week ending May 30, 2022

There is one addition to the list of ten or the week, which adds to the number of homes from the city's east side  for our compilation of high end properties in the city.

Three of our ten top the million dollar mark this week, one bubbles just under, while the majority of the week's listings are in the 800,000 mark.

The distribution of our list of ten has six homes for sale on the West side, and four on the East side.

The real estate review below is purely for information purposes, for further background on the properties recorded, see our links pages for access to the individual real estate listings.

The Archive for our weekly review can be found here.  

Our list of the top ten priced homes for the week ending May 30, 2022 can be explored below:

Real Estate Listings for the West Side of Prince Rupert
for the week ending May 30

Real Estate Listings for the East Side of Prince Rupert
for the week ending May 30

The lowest mark for the review of the week is at 777,000  while our top end is marked  at the price point of   $1,550,000 

Total value of the listings for our ten increased this week noted at $9,990,000

Below find our findings as of the Week ending May 30, 2021

2130 Graham Avenue                    $1,550,000 --   Remax

160  Van Arsdol Street                   $1,295,000 --   Remax. (new) 

1042 Edward Avenue                     $1,150,000 --   Realty Executives

975 Edward Avenue                       $995.000 --      Realty Executives 

1320 Overlook Street                     $890,000 --      Remax

219 4th Avenue West                     $849,000 --      Remax

112 Collart Place                            $849,000 --     Remax

124 Silversides                               $825,000 --     Realty Executives (new)

197 Vanarsdol Street                      $810,000 --     Remax 

1845 Atlin Avenue                         $777,000 --      Remax 

For more items related to Real Estate see our archive page here. 

For background on Housing issues in the Prince Rupert area see our past items here. 

Blog Watching: Week ending May 29, 2022

The ink was barely dry from the final vote tally of earlier this month before the City had the 2022 Tax Bills into mailboxes across the city, the annual call for payment coming with an increase for the year, one that will be impacted by rising assessment rates for many property owners. 

Our look at the Tax bills and the announcement of a Community Presentation with mayor Lee Brain in June made for the most read item of the week.

Also gaining a strong readership this week was some political controversy out of Victoria as the NDP announced plans for a near 800 million museum project for the Capital, a political talking point that the BC Liberal in particular is making good use of this month.

Northward expansion plans for the DP World Facility at Fairview Terminal continue to make for commentary  on the city's waterfront, with the Port Edward Harbour Authority now seeking feedback from the public on the plans.

With the regional tourism industry looking for a more normal season ahead than that of the last two years, Tourism Prince Rupert has launched a marketing plan to try to highlight the city's attractions as well as those around the surrounding area.

And our look at some of the recent training put in by Firefighters in Port Edward found a large number of interested readers.

However,  when it came to the top item of the week the city's annual call for payment of Taxes provided for the largest volume of readers these past seven days.

Tax Bills arrive in mail, State of the city presentation invites as well; with Mayor to host public forum June 28th at Lester Centre -- The City's financial office has been quick to get the Taxes Due notices out to the public, with Tax Bills arriving across the city this past week. As part of the information package is also an invitation to a Public presentation by the Mayor to update the community on a range of civic initiatives.     (posted  May 25, 2022)

That article was followed by: 
 

NDP Museum plans could be long running gift for Opposition -- An announcement from mid May that will see the Royal BC Museum close its doors for up to eight years as part of a near 800 million dollar rebuild has become the main talking point of late for the Opposition Liberals. With the local BC Liberal association making sure to localizing the debate for North Coast Residents.    (posted  May 26, 2022)

 

Port Edward Harbour Authority looking for public feedback on Port Expansion plans and impact on Fairview Floats  -- A port expansion project that would see the movement of the southern part of the Fairview Floats docks to points north has generated a fair bit of commentary, with the Port Edward Harbour Authority now seeking the opinion of those who may be affected by the project. ( posted May 24,  2022)

Tourism Prince Rupert looks to rebuild marketing of attractions following COVID interruption  -- A look at some of the features and four key initiatives to draw attention to what Prince Rupert and the North Coast has to offer visitors.  (posted May 26, 2022)  .  

 

Port Edward Volunteer Firefighters take on range of scenarios in May training program -- Our look at some of the training of the last few months for Port Edward's Volunteer Firefighter Department also found a large audience.   ( posted May 27, 2022)

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

You can also review the full listings of the week just past, from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.

A note for those that previously used our email alert delivery option, Blogger has discontinued that feature, so we direct you to our CharlesMHays Twitter feed, where we post updates to the blog as we post them.

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here.    

To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.