City Council Recap – October 15

The following decisions were made during Council’s regular meeting today:

CONSENT AGENDA:

Elections Bylaw – First Reading

• City Council passed first reading of the updated Elections Bylaw. Key changes include:
• Increased number of nomination signatures (50 per councillor candidate and 100 per Mayoral candidate).
• A $100 nomination deposit per candidate.
• The removal of the use of electronic tabulators, with ballots to be hand-counted after polls close.
• The addition of the Permanent Electors Registers. Voters will see staff using laptops to input voters’ data into the register on election day.
• Expanded eligibility of special ballots to any voter.
• Polls to open at 9 a.m. on election day instead of 10 a.m.
• The changes required per Bill 20, including the ban of electronic tabulators, will cost The City an additional $650,000 to conduct the next municipal election. The increase is largely due to the anticipated 200 election workers required to hand count. The City estimates the October 2025 election to cost $1.5 million.

Zoning Bylaw Amendment – Red Tape Reduction

• City Council approved a Zoning Bylaw Amendment intended to provide the community with increased flexibility in the implementation of the Zoning Bylaw and help external applicants with immediate development needs.
• Specifically, the amendment adds primary and secondary educational institutions as a discretionary use to several commercial zones to provide increased opportunities for educational institutions to exist in compatible districts.

REPORTS:

 2024 Adopted Capital Cash Flow

• Council approved the 2024 Adopted Capital Cash Flow Budget.
• For the capital related components of The City’s budget, an annual capital ‘cash flow’ budget is required to be approved by Council. This number is based on Administration’s forecasted expenditures for capital projects still in progress in 2024 and appears on the Statement of Net Debt and shows the Budgeted Acquisition of Tangible Capital Assets.
• There is no financial impact, as this is a translation from budget to cash flow for financial statement purposes.
• The total Council approved capital budget for 2024 was $122.945 million. This is different from the cash flow budget, as the cash flow takes an up-to-date view of all the capital projects to which the City has committed. The cash flow budget is $92.477 million.

Environmental Master Plan

• City Council endorsed a continued commitment to climate initiatives as outlined in the Environmental Master Plan and authorized administration to apply for relevant enabling grants to support implementation.

PUBLIC HEARINGS:

Zoning Bylaw Amendment 3357/SS-2024 Omnibus

• Following a public hearing, City Council gave second and third reading to a Zoning Bylaw amendment to improve clarity and increase flexibility in its implementation. Additionally, Council approved the rezoning of two lots in Timberlands from Residential Wide Zone (R-W) to Residential Small Scale Mixed use (R-SMU) and the zoning of 2233 50 Avenue as Parks and Recreation Zone (P-1).