Archive for January, 2012

Committee of the Whole and Council Meetings

Can’t make it to a Committee of the Whole or a Council Meeting? Our new online video service allows you to review Council meetings, Committee of the Whole meetings and Public Hearings in their entirety or by agenda item with the click of your mouse.

The latest four meetings can be accessed on our website using the video link in the lower left hand corner. By scrolling through the menu, you can find the meeting that you are looking for.

At the beginning of the January 24, Council Meeting, Ceri Marlo, Manager of Legislative Services, provided Council with a demonstration of the new Council Video System and its features. If you’d like to learn about all the tools available to you as part of the Council Video System, this would be the best place to start. Ms. Marlo’s demonstration shows how you can use tools to change the display emphasis, move forward and backward through the agenda or email links to friends and neighbours regarding matters discussed during these public meetings.

These videos are typically posted two to three days after the meeting. This allows staff to link the reports, agenda slides and presentations to the video footage of Council so that you have a complete ‘one stop’ source to review the work of Council. Please contact us at 604-463-5221 if you have any questions about the Council Video Service.

Ceri Marlo, Manager of Legislative Services, presented Council with a 2012 Council Matrix [PDF, 395KB] for the period of January 1 through June 30, 2012. The Matrix was developed to track items that Council has identified as priorities and presentations to update and inform Council on local issues and policy discussions. These items represent only a small portion of the work that occurs at the District on a daily basis, and represent only the highest priority projects identified in the 2012-2016 Business Plan.

The project Matrix acts as a template to allow staff to work towards specific targets for the priorities identified by Council. The dates listed may be altered depending on the availability of information and personnel and when items emerge that need to be dealt with as determined by Council.

Council moved the recommendation forward to the regular Council Meeting of January 24, 2012.

Christine Carter, Director of Planning, provided an overview of a report [PDF, 5.1MB] that is part of the regular Council Meeting of January 24, 2012, relating to the next steps for the development of Albion Flats.

Ms. Carter provided an overview of the timeline for this project and the comments that were made by the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) in a letter dated November 29, 2011, (received on December 5, 2011). The report breaks down the components of the ALC comments and discusses the implications of the feedback as it relates to possible next steps towards the development of the Albion Flats Plan.

Ms. Carter then reviewed three possible approaches, as outlined in the report, going through the potential timelines and implications of each. She concluded by making a case for the staff recommendation to support the third option, which would have the owners of properties to the ‘north’ of 105 Avenue, as identified in the ALC comments, proceed with a private exclusion application while the District moves forward with the work necessary to make an application for the lands to the ‘south’ of 105 Avenue.

Council discussed the alternatives and asked a number of questions of staff in preparation for the January 24, 2012, meeting. Council thanked staff for their diligence in the preparation of the report. As noted, it will come forward as agenda item 1201 at the Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Council Meeting.

Fiona Taylor, Director of BC Hydro’s Smart Metering Program provided Council with an overview of the Smart Metering Program. Her presentation [PDF, 1.6MB] outlined the reasons for implementation of the Smart Meter Program and many of the common questions that have arisen as the program rolled out into the community.

Ms. Taylor noted that Smart Meters are not a consumer product, they are a key part of the electrical distribution system that is known as the ‘power grid.’ In fact, Smart Meters are the last point of the grid, and as with the current meters, they measure the power consumption for the property that they are attached to. When fully installed and integrated with measurement devices along the distribution network, the entire ‘smart grid’ will allow for better management of the system.

The Smart System will allow for better monitoring and diagnostics of power outages, be able to determine where power is being used illegally, and will help refine the distribution network to ensure that appropriate capacity exists for segments of the system and will provide customers with the option of monitoring their own power consumption to better support conservation programs.

Ms. Taylor reviewed some of the common myths about the Smart Meters, noting that some customers were comparing the BC Hydro equipment to that used in other jurisdictions in North America. In total, 1.9 million meters will be installed in BC when the program is fully implemented. BC Hydro has been doing a lot of testing and providing education on issues related to the technology in response to concerns regarding how the meters broadcast out the usage data. More information on the Smart Meter Program can be found on BC Hydro’s website.

An article in the Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows Times details the change in the type of homes being built locally. http://www.mrtimes.com/Photos+Apartment+boom+hitting+Ridge/6016630/story.html