Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, February 13, 2023
Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg opened the Committee of the Whole meeting.
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Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Darryl Drohomerski presented the Drumheller Public Library bylaw update for discussion.
Council previously disallowed the bylaw in late 2022 and the item is being brought back for council to review proposed revisions made since. Once council is satisfied with these amendments the bylaw will be brought back for consideration and approval at a future council meeting.
Council discussed some of the proposed revisions made to the document and some further changes and clarifications they would like to see before the bylaw is brought back for approval.
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Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Officer (DRFMO) project director Deighen Blakely presented an alignment optimization of the Midland berm using the CN Rail line.
The original berm design would run parallel to 25 Street NW from the existing CN Rail embankment to North Dinosaur Trail/Highway 838. With the Town having taken over the CN Rail line it was determined the former rail line could be used in place of the current proposed alignment, and would result in some $350,000 in savings; however, Ms. Blakely explained there will be some additional survey, engineering, and landscape design costs to make this change.
Consultation with CN is expected to take place once designs are finalized for the proposed new alignment.
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Ms. Blakely presented council with the tree clearing tender award for information. Tree clearing must begin prior to construction beginning in berm construction areas; two bids were received, from Wilco Contractors Southwest Inc. and Wright Tree Service of Canada Ltd.
Wilco was awarded the tender for a total cost of $183,270 excluding GST. Work is expected to begin soon to reduce potential delays to construction and disrupting nesting and migrating birds.
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Economic Development manager Reg Johnston presented council with a briefing note on a proposed Short Term Rental bylaw. Short Term Rentals, while helpful with tourism, also present an issue when it comes to rental market affordability and availability.
There are approximately 100 of these units currently available in Drumheller, and the department looked at other municipalities to determine the saturation of Short Term Rentals in similar jurisdictions. It was discovered there were a total of 12 units in Strathmore, 123 units in Airdrie, and more than 1,000 units in Canmore.
Based on this assessment and discussions during previous Council meetings, it was determined regulations on Short Term Rentals are required. A draft of the proposed bylaw is anticipated to be brought forward for council discussion at the March 13 Committee of the Whole meeting.
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Director of Protective and Emergency Services Greg Peters presented for discussion a proposed pay parking program. This would encompass several locations, including the World’s Largest Dinosaur, Rosedale Swinging Bridge, Hoodoos recreation area, downtown, and Town owned parking lots.
Research has been conducted, and several systems were discovered which could potentially work for the proposed program, though some systems would require installation of a considerable amount of infrastructure.
Mr. Peters was directed to explore other parking pay app systems with less initial installation and costs, in which users would be able to register and pay for parking electronically through their smartphone.
It was also recommended to explore exemptions, such as a pass or tag, for local residents.
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Council adjourned the meeting to a closed session.
Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.