The following items were among those discussed at the regular meeting of Meadow Lake city council held Monday, Jan. 12. All members of council were present.
Council: IN BRIEF
During Monday’s meeting, city council gave first reading to a zoning amendment bylaw that, once fully approved, will add ‘self-service storage facility’ as a defined use and as a permitted use in the C1, M1 and M2 zones. A public hearing on the matter will take place at council’s Feb. 9 meeting. “The mini-storage facility now known as Freedom Storage was originally constructed in compliance with the zoning regulations of the RM of Meadow Lake, prior to that area’s annexation into the city,” explained planning and development manager Neil Marsh in his official recommendation to council. “Since that time, the business has existed as a ‘non-conforming use’, as described in section 3.2.2 of the zoning bylaw, because an applicable defined use is not listed in the C1 (highway commercial) zone.” Marsh went on to note the owners now wish to expand their business and therefore must apply for a bylaw amendment to add an applicable defined use to the C1 zone in order to bring everything into compliance. “All things considered, creating a specific definition in the zoning bylaw for this type of business is the most logical way to proceed,” Marsh said. “Carefully defined, a ‘self-service storage facility’ can be listed as a permitted use in the highway commercial zone and in both industrial zones. It can potentially be added as a discretionary use in some other zones, which can be considered at a later date.
Sign of the times
During Monday’s meeting, city council approved the minutes from the Oct. 30 meeting of the Meadow Lake and District Museum. Among the items discussed by the museum board was the Chamber of Commerce sign located in front of the building. “The city is working on getting the lights working in front of the Chamber of Commerce sign in front of the museum,” the minutes read. However the minutes also state the sign itself must be addressed. “We all agreed it needs a lot of work,” the minutes continue. “Marty (city councillor Marty Bishop, who represents council on the museum board) will approach the city and bring the concerns of the sign. It was clarified anything that has to go to council will go through Marty first. He will approach the city and address the issue.” Bishop confirmed with council the sign the museum is most concerned about is the one located in front of the building. “That’s a Chamber sign, but the Chamber, I believe, is now pretty much defunct so there wouldn’t be anything happening there,” he said. “I will advise them at the next meeting, if they want to have the city fund some of that or look at that, they should bring a proposal to council. They should do some legwork to find out how much it will cost to fix it, bring that to us and find out if we can help them.”
Hats off to city staff
With the abundant amount of snow to drop on Meadow Lake and area in recent weeks, city council feels those tasked with keeping the streets and sidewalks clear are doing a fantastic job. This was expressed quite thoroughly during the council enquiries portion of Monday’s meeting. “Kudos to the snow removal contractors and city staff,” remarked councillor Connie Marsh-Yuhasz. “They’re doing a great job.” This was echoed by councillor Mauri Young. “Also, kudos when it comes to snow removal,” Young said. “It’s nice to see the contractors and the city out there, working away to get rid of the snow.” Mayor Merlin Seymour agreed. “The rain we had a week-and-a-half to two weeks ago didn’t help the sidewalks downtown at all,” he noted. “And, while snow removal has been talked about a fair bit, hats off to the contractors and to city staff. In previous years, snow would be removed from the downtown sidewalks, onto the edge of the street and just left there making it not as accessible for older people or those with mobility issues. This year they have been out there regularly getting rid of all that, so just an extra hats off to the city staff for doing that.”