Council Meeting April 10th, 2018.
Just The Facts.
Development Permit 311 Campbell Avenue: Staff have recommended that a Development Permit be approved for issuance, subject to completion of the conditions approved on March 27 for the Cube Hotel staff housing accommodation.
Council approved the motion.
Original Story:Cube Hotel
The Revelstoke Credit Union & RCU Insurance are looking to brighten things up along the building with led lighting to run along the trim of the community minded credit union building. A slight snag has arose when it comes to Dark Sky policies. While there are two well know hotels in Revelstoke that have them installed, they don’t meet the current OCP.
Staff were hesitantly supportive in regards to the two hotels utilizing the very same lighting and are now more in line with not allowing it moving forward. The concern is conflicting light temperature and different colour hues that may not match the skyline of Revelstoke, ultimately looking inconsistent.
Staff would like to open the dialogue up in regards to Dark Sky Policy in the future and consider new options moving forward with the new Official Community Plan. However, they were recommending that Council deny this application for the time being.
Roberta Bobicki spoke passionately in regards to the lighting concern, and explained that the lights are not designed to point up, but rather outwards, or straight down. RCU is proposing less than a third lumen at 3000K or less (Colour temperature of 3000K and brightness of 55 lumens/foot). She explained in detail that they were very conscience of surrounding neighbours and would not be intrusive to surrounding businesses. Bobicki further explained why this lighting strip concept came into play.
“In the winter by 4pm, it is pitch black. We thought some soft friendly lighting would be something nice for the long winter hours. They would be on a timer, we would not have them on after midnight.”
Bobicki also noted that some if the strip lighting in the back is also intended to lighten up the back area for safety concerns and to allow for maximum visibility.
Councillors Sulz, Brothers and English voted against staff recommendations and Mayor Mark McKee expressed his thoughts on the matter and rather favoured the idea and felt it was in line with the current changes of the community as a resort town.
Councillor Nixon noted that the Advisory Planning Commission do not agree with the proposal and that the Heritage Committee and the Environment Committee were not considered at all.
Councillor Duke was against it and agreed with suggestions made by staff.
Motion was defeated to deny and Councillor Sulz recommended that Council accept the proposal from RCU and was ultimately approved. (Councillor Orlando recused himself)
Fortis BC: Representative, Blair Weston spoke on changes in Fortis throughout the community. Natural Gas is relatively stable with propane fluctuating up and down. At this stage, the concern is the fluctuation rather than the commodity price. Fortis acknowledge the cost and are working on ways to mitigate the issues. However, Fortis is currently not working on an LNG option for the community. FBC stated that they have not forgotten about the option of a Revelstoke Roll in of commodity charges.
The option that FBC would need to submit to BCUC is thought to be a commodity price for propane based off of the price for natural gas.
Councillor English expressed a stern concern as to the lack of options, growth or change to help Revelstokians save money by Fortis creating a way to mitigate costs or other alternative methods.
Naturally, there is no guarantee what the outcome may be and when a new option may come to fruition.
Original Story: Interim Cannabis Prohibition
We know the scoop, we know the concerns. Legalization of marijuana has been covered on local, national and international media outlets and covered all angles of the positives and negatives.
What is next for Revelstoke?
A public hearing will be scheduled to listen to the concerns of the community, this will most likely take place in early May.
