Council briefs: Greystone. Cannabis. SLSFSC

No public consumption of cannabis Those lighting up to celebrate recreational cannabis legalization later this year will face a minimum fine of $200 if caught consuming in a public space. Town council passed the cannabis consumption bylaw at the Aug. 13 council meeting with unanimous consent, ahead of the culmination of The Cannabis Act: the Oct. 17 legalization date. Coun. Tara McFadden moved to delay the decision, expressing a desire to ensure the bylaw, in conjunction with the town's smoking bylaw, would cover all the bases - including public vaping or medicinal consumption. She remains concerned that a misstep could have a reverse effect on the movement against smoking in general and to be mindful of exposure to youth. The bylaw aligns with Alberta Health Services recommendations to ban consumption in all public spaces - this includes parks and pathways. Fair boost The Cochrane and District Ag Society was on deck to appeal to council for a grant to help offset its increasing operations for what has become one of the most well-attended events of the year - the Cochrane Fair, which takes place Aug. 17-19 at the Ag Society grounds. With an ask of $7,500 to $10,000 at hand, council granted $7,500 from the 2018 community grant fund, given this year's account had $15,835 of unspent dollars remaining. The group acknowledged their timing could have been better, but was granted the funds given the economic boon the fair, which now also hosts the Cochrane Classic Bullriding (Saturday) and the Bucking Horse Futurity (Friday), is for the local tourism sector. SLSFSC gets $125K to finish lounge space An ask for $125,000 by Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) to finish their shell space that is looking to be filled with a restaurant/lounge vendor was granted by council in a 5-2 vote. Robin Mitchell, general manager of the facility, said he has toured 32 potential vendors over the last year - all of them unable to push past the out-of-pocket costs of forking out $125,000 off the hop into leaseholder improvements that they could not recoup if their business failed. During the original build of the pool/curling facility addition, which opened in July 2017 and has run over budget by over $4 million to date, Mitchell said that the lack of plumbing and piping in the facility has been the "biggest stumbling block ... we just can't get past that" and the main reason why the 4,300 sq/ft space has been left vacant for the last year and counting. Mitchell recognizes there may have been some efficiencies if the work had been done during the facility construction phase, but that this could have gone both ways.

The push now is to have the work completed ahead of the curling season, which ramps up in October. Due to the disruptive nature of the construction, if council had not voted in favour of granting the funds now the project would have been delayed until next spring. The majority of council acknowledged that something needed to be done rather than to continue losing revenue on the empty space. Coun. Morgan Nagel was a naysayer on the merit that the venture was subsidizing private business and makes for an unfair edge to competing businesses right now who could be impacted by SLSFSC catering to teams on site. Coun. Pat Wilson voted against on the basis that such a decision should be postponed until fall budget deliberations. "I am uncomfortable making large financial decisions mid-year without thoroughly consulting ramifications to our slim discretionary funds," said Wilson. "This is not a subsidy," said Mayor Jeff Genung. "It's an improvement on the space to get it to a position where a business can come into it." The funds will be directed from the facilities lifecycling reserve. Replacing rail Council approved $225,000 from the roads rehab reserve to fund the replacement of the Fifth Ave rail crossing platform. The needed maintenance was unanticipated and is attributed to the extreme weather conditions of last year, as determined by CP Rail and town staff. Greystone Area C NP passes Council wound down a particularly late council session with the approval of the Greystone Area C Neighbourhood Plan, which was amended following the a postponement by council on July 9. Amendments to the neighbourhood plan - the beginnings of the future mixed-use commercial/residential infill development located at the former Burnco gravel pit along Griffin Road - include the undertaking of an air quality assessment with respect to the adjacent Spray Lake Sawmill located on the borders of Riverview and the future Greystone, as well as a change in the residential component. Council voted in favour of Nagel's move to change the multi-family designation (R-2) to single-family (R-1) on the furthest western strip of the residential portion of the plan - what will border on Riverview. Coun. Tara McFadden was disappointed with the decision to go to R-1 from R-2 in this area and feels that the latter density would have fit better with the community and the sustainable, downtown feel that an infill development such as this warrants. Both McFadden and Genung noted the positive spin-offs the future community would have for the town as a whole - including providing much-needed commercial spaces and a business park, with $11 million to $13 million in levies to be collected and at least $3 million in tax revenues from "an old gravel pit." NOMS McFadden gained support from council with her request for up to $1,500 in funds for her campaign at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference next month, where she is running for a board position as director for town south. Nagel gave notice that he is looking to rezone the southeast are of park space in Bow Meadows for maintenance purposes, to strike a compromise between resident and flood mitigation strategies - where the lower space is left natural and the upper is maintained as a park space.