Archive for July, 2011

Silvia Rutledge, Manager of Revenue and Collections, made a presentation [PDF, 342KB] to Council outlining how the 2011 tax season had played out. The report showed that the District had already collected approximately 92% of the $111 million dollars of tax revenue for 2011. $37 million of this total is collected for other governments and agencies. Ms. Rutledge’s report showed how 22% of citizens pay their taxes through their mortgage and how 11% have signed up for the Pre-Authorized Withdrawal System (PAWS).

The report also detailed how area residents are using the District website at http://www.mapleridge.ca/index.html to apply for their Home Owner Grant online. In 2011, 30% of these grants were claimed online, up by 8% over the previous year. While this might be due to the postal strike, the hope is that people who used the service this year will realize how convenient it is and continue to use the online method in future years.

Ms. Rutledge noted that all of the funds received before the deadline (July 4, 2011) were processed and were in the bank by July 7.

Following the regular Council meeting on July 26, 2011, Council will be on summer break for a few weeks. Council This Week will be back in your Inbox following the Council Workshop session on August 29, 2011. Enjoy the summer and we thank you for subscribing to this electronic newsletter.

Liz Holitzki, Director of Licences, Permits and Bylaws, presented Council with the results of the Open House held on June 29, 2011. The report [PDF, 391KB] detailed the responses of the citizens who participated in the Open House. Council members reviewed the two key points from the Open House, the development of a geographic limit for complaints and the establishing of a limit on the number of complaints that can be filed by a citizen in a 12 month period. As with the previous discussion on the RV Parking and Storage issue, Council had a number of very detailed comments and questions on the two key issues regarding the geographic issue and number of complaints, and explored scenarios where each of these mechanisms might be applied, and what the consequences might be. Based on the views that were expressed in the discussion, staff were directed to go back and prepare a more detailed report that would capture the key elements of a proposed Bylaw including those topics from today’s discussion. That report will come back to Council later in the year and any change to the Bylaw will require a public hearing before Council so that they can get direct feedback from citizens prior to enacting any changes.

Liz Holitzki, Director of Licences, Permits and Bylaws, presented Council with the results of the Open House held on June 29, 2011. The report [PDF, 9.23MB] included transcriptions of every comment sheet that was submitted as part of the Open House, as well as email submissions that were sent directly to Municipal Hall on the matter. Council members had an extensive discussion on all the issues that were explored as part of the Open House and they posed a number of questions around the intent and direction of the final bylaw. Council’s questions and comments included issues such as whether the bylaw would differentiate between properties in urban areas and rural areas, the specific definitions of what constitutes a Recreational Vehicle (RV), the number of RVs allowed on different property types and whether the RV had to be owned by the property owner. Council also raised some different mechanisms to deal with the issue including the possible use of permits so that each particular property could be assessed to see if it is suitable for parking/storage of RVs. Council directed staff to go back and prepare a more detailed report that would articulate the key elements of a proposed Bylaw including those topics from today’s discussion. That report will come back to Council later in the year and any change to the Bylaw will require a public hearing before Council so that they can get direct feedback from citizens prior to enacting any changes.

Andrew Wood, Municipal Engineer, and Chuck Goddard, Manager of Development and Environmental Services-Approving Officer, presented a report [PDF, 1.22MB] to Council outlining two key issues that need to be assessed as the District considers development of the North Albion Area. North Albion is the area north of 108 Avenue between 240 Street and 252 Street. The area is further divided by Kanaka Creek Regional Park. 

The first issue is that the lands are not currently serviced by water and sewer. The lands to the west of Kanaka Creek are more difficult to develop than the lands to the east; however, water and sewer services to the eastern lands must come through the lands to the west. Typically, developers would pay for the cost of servicing these lands; however, given the steep terrain and environmental sensitivities in the area as well as the highly disparate ownership of the lands it is questionable if individual property owners could afford the cost of servicing. It is for these reasons that Council might consider “fronting” the costs of servicing so that the area could achieve the population growth anticipated in the Official Community Plan (OCP). Council directed that staff bring back a more detailed report on the process and the implications of alternative approaches to providing infrastructure services to this area.

The second issue is the densities available in the area west of Kanaka Creek. Initial ground-truthing of these lands shows that there are portions of this area that will likely not be able to accept the population densities anticipated in the OCP; while there are other portions that may be able to accept more density than initially anticipated. Council directed staff to review the density potential for both the west and east areas of North Albion as they relate to the density provisions in the OCP.