October 4th Council Meeting

Hi friends, 

I wanted to provide a brief synopsis of today's Council meeting as there are some items of interest to residents in the west-end. 

First, I am happy to report that Council unanimously supported my committee motion not to remove the streetlights at Brock and Sandwich and at Campbell and Grove. There was an administrative report recommending the removal of streetlights at these intersections, among others, and Council supported my motion to keep them there considering there are two grade schools close by at each location. 

Second, we were supposed to discuss and debate the Legacy Beacon project and the Festival Plaza Canopy project today. Councillor Gignac put forward a motion to defer these items until administration reported back on a comprehensive report looking at these two projects together with the Civic Esplanade project that is set to come forward at some point in the future. I supported this motion because I think it gives us a bigger picture to assess when making these decisions and because there may be synergies that we realize when looking at all three projects together since they are closely located. There will be more to come on these items in the future, but for now I think deferring this to look at all the projects together is a sensible approach moving forward. As you may all know by now, I am always in favour of more information to make a decision.

Third, I asked a Council Question at the end of our Council session asking administration to report back on the following: 

"Administration to report back on the possibility of having a city-wide bylaw to require all property owners to maintain their properties free from rodents and further researching best practices from other municipalities." 

I am happy to report that Council supported my motion. The reason I asked this question is because we do not currently have a bylaw that forces property owners to clean up their properties from rodents. We have a rat abatement program but if it is found that the rats (for example) are coming from your neighbour's property, then that neighbour has to consent to the City applying their rat abatement program at their property. If they don't, there is nothing that the neighbours can do from a City perspective. If we were to have a city-wide bylaw prohibiting rodents on property, that gives authority to our bylaw officers to inspect and possibly issue orders to property owners to clean up their property via the city rat abatement program or through a private 3rd party provider. Either way, it gives the City more "teeth" to enforce this problem. I have heard from many residents, including several who live on my block on Lena Ave., that this is an issue and I agree with them that it is unfair for those who take care of their property to live with rats that are coming from a neighbouring property owner. Once we receive a report back, we will better know if this is a bylaw that could be created and if so, everything that is entailed in doing so. 

Hope you are doing well and hope you have a great week. 

Fabio