Council highlights for October 3

Oct 4, 2022 | 6:00 AM

Other highlights from the October 3 meeting of Grande Prairie city council.

– Council voted against rezoning some land on the north end to heavy industrial. The land is in two lots, one on 99 Street, the other on 128 Avenue. The owners of a nearby scrap yard were hoping to expand their operations. One nearby resident told council they were having issues with noise and dust. They were also told by their realtor when they bought their house in 1999 that the scrap yard would be moving in two years. He also talked about property values being hurt. A representative of a nearby commercial property owner also brought up concerns about property values being hurt by this. Council did acknowledge that the scrap yard was there before there were houses close by.

– Preserving the old courthouse, now the Centre for Creative Arts, has taken a step ahead. Council approved a notice of intention to designate the building located at 101 Avenue and 99 Street a Municipal Historic Resource. This means a 60-day waiting period before a designation bylaw can come forward has now started. The architectural features and the condition of the building will be looked at in the meantime. Council first approved the idea for this designation in May.

– Council forwarded a couple of ideas on controlling weeds along arterial roads to 2023 budget talks. One would see mowing done weekly. The other would see contractors hired to do spraying. Administration says it would look at doing this in the fall of 2023 then re-evaluate in the spring of 2024. They also talked about mitigating risks like drift. Council also approved having administration study a naturalization idea and report back to the committee level.