Land-use Bylaw changes needed before billboard can come up

By Jeremy Appel

Commentator/Courier

Jeremy Appel
Commentator/Courier
Redcliff town administration says its Land-use Bylaw must be updated before council can move forward with an LED billboard in town.
Council heard a proposal at its Dec. 11 meeting from The Experts LED to put up a two-sided billboard at the corner of 1900 South Highway Dr. SE, which council instructed administration to look into.
The current bylaw, which has been in place since 1998, expressly prohibits large electronic billboards.
LED signs are permitted only if they’re no more than 2.5 metres squared, but the Experts’ proposed billboard is 62.43 metres squared.
“As it is right now, our bylaws are fairly clear, unfortunately,” said Mayor Dwight Kilpatrick at the Jan. 22 meeting.
Municipal manager Arlos Crofts says administration will look at what other communities have done with regards to permitting billboards when it updates its Land-use Bylaw later this year.
“That would be part of the whole Land-use Bylaw re-drafting process, the research aspect, but also part of the Land-use Bylaw process is trying to get public input too,” said Crofts.
Coun. Cathy Crozier put forward a motion to wait until the complete update of the Land-use Bylaw scheduled for this year, which passed unanimously.
“It may be a year before electronic billboards are allowed, if allowed at all,” she said.
Asset management grant
Council also voted to apply for a $50,000 asset management grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
The goal of the program is to ensure a municipality’s assets are in order, maintaining and replacing them as necessary, according to information provided by town administration.
In its 2018 budget, council earmarked $70,000 for asset management.
Crofts said the funds used for asset management would come from both the grant and part of the money council set aside.
The program would cost the town about $85,000, so it would require half the money earmarked on top of the grant.
Coun. Larry Leipert’s motion to approve the grant application passed unanimously.
Seniors Drop-in Centre rental agreement
Council unanimously approved a motion put forward by Leipert to complete the draft of a lease agreement with the Redcliff Seniors Society for its drop-in centre.
This would provide the centre with enhanced access to grant opportunities to assist with facility improvements.
Under the approved agreement, the town will be responsible for all major maintenance, repair and capital upgrades at the centre.
The municipality and centre will split utility costs 50-50.
The town also maintains the ability to rent out the facility to private events.
In the past 12 to 15 months, the town has replaced the centre’s hot water heater, two furnaces and an air conditioning unit.