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Years est. 1954
Volume 60 No. 12
Council creates plans to approach affordable housing Cameron Orr On direction from council, the District of Kitimat planning team will set to work figuring out potential ways to develop or retain affordable housing in Kitimat. The plan comes as staff presented councillors, at the March 10 committee of the whole meeting, with potential directions that would see things from zoning to other bylaws encouraging more affordable housing. The list includes creating a secondary suite incentive program, with a maximum budget for 2014 of $50,000; preparing a density bonus policy for the Official Community Plan; investigate allowing Coach Houses in select zones; creating a capital funding grant program for affordable housing projects; preparing a strata conversion policy (the town recently took a stab at that already however the specifics of the plan couldn’t be agreed on through debate and the policy was rejected); preparing a Kitimat Affordable Housing Strategy. (A Coach House is an outbuilding that may have been converted into living suites.) Aside from clarifications there was little debate on the motion as councillors all seemed in support of the directions. The only true change was striking a line that would have a capital funding grant funded through the town’s Affordable Housing Fund, as money became available. But Feldhoff felt the matter was urgent enough that he was comfortable using tax money to that purpose. “We don’t need to wait for funds to become available from the affordable housing fund. They will be helpful and useful funds but we should not limit ourselves,” he said. Phil Germuth added that he hopes that a new eventual strata conversion policy will be more flexible for council to review applications on a case-by-case basis, which was a sticking point for him in past debates. Meanwhile there were 12 total affordable housing policy options presented to council, with six being recommended for action at this time. But staff say that over time they will address the other options. Those options include inclusionary zoning (which would require portions of new construction to have affordable units), the creation of a rent bank, and rental subsidies. At this early time there are no specifics on how those options would be approached and would all be brought to councillors for future debates.
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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
The Watoto Children’s Choir from Africa filled the Kitimat Pentecostal Church with the sights and sounds of Africa during their Canadian tour March 8. Watoto is a Christian-based charity which aims to provide services to orphaned children and vulnerable women.
Animal control contract boosted Cameron Orr The Kitimat Community Humane Society is getting a bump to their annual animal control contract, to better reflect their services and the ongoing increase in labour costs that haven’t been reflected in their annual budget until now. As well, employees of the Humane Society will now be granted the ability to issue tickets and perform inspections under powers allowed in the Community Charter. From here, the Humane Society will receive a monthly deposit of $13,410 for their services. That brings their contract up from the $6,115 they were receiving prior. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Warren Waycheshen said at the March 10 committee of the whole meeting that over nine years their contract only rose about 13 per cent, not equal to even inflation. The increase will also help them take away reliance on volunteer hours, since they get calls at any time of day to handle animal control calls. Council’s motion meanwhile will also have the District advancing funds to the society in order to help out with a levy from the Canadian Revenue Agency.
Relating to when the humane society detached itself from the SPCA organization, the CRA eventually determined after audits that they had to pay GST for their animal control services, which they hadn’t prior. The bill, said shelter manager Maryann Oullet, was at its start $39,600. That has since been paid down to about $15,000, she told councillors. The advancement of the money to the society is not a grant, according to the motion. The funding in this new contract includes the cost of the manager-dog control officer, a full time dog control officer and two full time shelter workers. Staff are in the shelter seven days a week to feed and care for the animals. For 2014, the contract will cost $153,401 for wages and benefits, $5,000 for crematorium fees (the crematorium in Terrace is used) and training costs come to $2,500, for a total of $160,901. Costs for the building and grounds are included through the Public Works department, and other society operations are fundraised separately through events and donations.
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Spray parks in our future? ... page 6