Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
The new parking lot on Stan Wright Drive, designated for use as parking for community members, is close to completion.
And at their regular meeting on August 18, council voted to accept administration's recommendation of a monthly fee of $150 for a parking space.
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey said she has talked with a number of small commercial operators who are “quite excited about this”.
Councillors Rico Damota and Jenna McGrath said the fee is reasonable for commercial use.
During the discussion however, Mayor Richard Ireland said that while he is comfortable with the recommendation, there is much less on-street parking available in that area because of the layout of the parking lot, "and that will have an impact on some businesses more than others".
He suggested exempting 15 stalls from being rented and leaving them for public parking. The current design, he said, "does not sit comfortably with me".
Butler reminded council that the S-Block municipal parking lot will help reduce unregulated on-street parking.
"It's not fair when businesses are using a space long term," he said.
The exemption was not part of the motion passed but will be discussed at a future meeting.
Activity Centre decision delayed
From the date it will reopen, to how many hours each day it operates, to staffing, Jasper Municipal Council has had many discussions about the Activity Centre.
At Tuesday’s meeting, after going in camera for a time, council decided to return to the subject at an upcoming meeting, asking that the Request for Decision be re-adjusted.
Ireland said council needs to focus on the definition of reopening as opposed to how the facility will be made available for community use.
Cardboard conundrum revisited
There have been ongoing issues with the commercial cardboard collection program, currently being done free of charge by the municipality.
Council heard that during rounds collecting cardboard, staff spend extra time flattening the boxes.
Kelleher-Empey said "I'm appalled walking down some of our alleys, and garbage is left in boxes.”
She added, "We shouldn't have to clean up other people's messes".
If the extra work is done, she said, there should be a fee charged for it.
McGrath said, "It's a huge impact - the tidiness of the alleyways. It's unsightly in some areas."
Ireland said it is important to maintain the identity of Jasper as an environmentally responsible community.
"We have to drive home the fact that business operators have a responsibility to keep our community clean and tidy," he said.
He suggested giving box cutters to businesses to encourage flattening of cardboard boxes.
Damota said a line of communication needs to be established with businesses before measures such as discontinuing the service are taken.
"A unified system in place could be the solution," he said.
Deputy mayor Bert Journault agreed with Damota that the public needs to be educated about what's going on and why it's important that everyone takes part in being part of the solution.
Possible measures include requiring all commercial cardboard be flattened or fines under existing bylaws may apply, implementation of a commercial cardboard bins program, or dedicated cardboard bins for businesses.
Council could also review an existing bylaw to distribute the costs of commercial cardboard recycling as recycling fees are currently the same for residential and commercial properties.
They could also suspend the pick-up service and only accept delivery at the Operations yard or incentivize businesses to adopt a zero-waste management program before a business licence is issued in 2021. A decision is scheduled for council's meeting on September 1.
Funding for housing
Council gave first and second reading to a new bylaw to take out a seed loan from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for $100,000, for construction of 80 affordable housing units in Jasper.
McGrath said: "It's exciting for our town to have accommodation that's affordable and accessible.”
Coun. Paul Butler described the project as “a fairly important milestone”.
He and Damota acknowledged all the work that's been done to help the project move ahead.
About the project, Journault said it's viable, but said financial contributions from the business community "need to be quite firm - secured funding".
Read more about this affordable housing project here.
