By Shaun Penner

Community Standards

County adopts Community Standards Bylaw following feedback

May 19, 2019 | 7:00 AM

The new Community Standards Bylaw has now been officially adopted by the County of Grande Prairie, but with a few amendments to it based on public feedback.

Regional Enforcement Services Manager Stuart Rempel had originally brought the bylaw forward to council at the end of February and it passed first reading in that meeting. It was then put forward to the public for feedback through most of March, and a few amendments were made based on some of the 67 responses the County received.

“We really appreciated the people who took the time to fill out the survey and stop and talk to us at the different pop-up events. There were some great learnings that came from that,” said Rempel. “In addition to some tremendous support, we took a look at some of the comments and the suggestions and we were able to make those changes and bring them back before council.”

One of those changes to the omnibus bylaw, which some are referring to as the “Good Neighbour” bylaw, was surrounding the language used under the nuisance section, which said no one should throw objects at people or animals to startle them. Rempel noted that it is good for human and pet safety as written, but when it comes to predatory or dangerous animals like coyotes encroaching onto people’s property, some feedback suggested throwing rocks is in fact the best way to get rid of them.

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“One of things in the education programs with coyotes is they recommend using loud noise and throwing rocks and snowballs to drive coyotes off your land,” said Rempel. “We changed our tactics as a result of that and that was a learning that came out of the survey itself.”

Another amendment was made under the addressing category, that added to language under the urban addressing category to encompass rural addressing as well. That change was made with emergency responders in mind, who struggled at times to find properties in rural areas because there was no identifier for the property. With that, the change was made to make it mandatory to not only show your address number, but it must be kept clear of debris and clutter.

Same goes for fire hydrants too, says Rempel.

“At 3 o’clock in the morning and your house is burning down, the fire department can’t get into a search to find the source of water,” said Rempel. “That’s a life safety thing. It could save a life and I’m pretty pleased that we’ve done that.”

In total, the bylaw addresses 11 different areas to ensure community safety and enjoyment. Those include:

• Addressing
• Unsightly Premises
• Bullying and Hazing
• Graffiti
• Noise
• Nuisance
• Cannabis
• Waste Management
• False Alarms
• Fire Hydrants
• Sidewalks

The bylaw took effect on Monday, following council passing second and third reading.