OUTLOOK - A public hearing held on Tuesday, November 7 gave Outlook residents an opportunity to pose questions and have their say on two of the town's updated bylaws that have been introduced.
Held in the court room of the Outlook town offices building, a sizable amount of people came out to hear what was said about the two bylaws, one of which is centered on Community Planning and the other on Zoning.
Both bylaws are currently in the draft stage and have not been officially passed.
Present for the hearing were all of Outlook's town councillors, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, CAO Kevin Trew, Assistant CAO Rachel Sillers, Graham Baxter, a geotechnical engineer of Machibroda Engineering Ltd., and Chad Watson, a community planner of Urban Systems Ltd.
The hearing was recorded and broadcast live on the Town of Outlook's Facebook page.
Following some opening remarks from Mayor Weiterman, Trew made note of several errors in each of the bylaws that have since been corrected.
The hearing then heard from the public, as there were a number of people who had made appointments to speak to the bylaws.
First up were Ward and Judy McNichol, who live on Tufts Crescent. Ward noted their home had some issues in the past related to a sizable amount of rain in Outlook from a number of years ago, issues that saw their house move downward.
"All of this study that you guys have done was done in that area in that timeframe," said Ward. "The house has not moved one inch since then, so making rules for something that happened once in a hundred years makes us wonder what this is all about."
Judy wondered why the zoning bylaw was being put into place, to which CAO Trew replied that the Town is required to put something in place once any liability issues become known.
"When slope stability issues have started in the town of Outlook, and they've obviously started before 2008, but in 2008, the Town commissioned a study regarding slope stability and once that slope stability became knowledge of ours that it was happening, then the onus of responsibility for us as a Town is to look after the Town's interests, as well as the members of the town itself," he said. "So once that happens, we are required by law, professionalism, and I would even say just by being a good neighbor and a good person to actually start pointing these things out and sharing that information with people, and actually trying to mitigate everybody's liability."
Judy responded by saying that the stability issues aren't anything new, and that there really isn't any stopping what's already happening.
"I've been aware of this for 60 years, so it isn't anything new," she said. "It's moving, constantly. The whole town is moving, not just the riverbank. We're in the danger zone, right at the center of it with our property. As far as safety, I feel very safe."
David Haugen, a resident on Cameron Drive, spoke about the Town's community plan, stating from something of a pithy point of view that there was both "good news and bad news" contained in the document. The good news, Haugen said, was that the Outlook & District Health Centre is going to have new departments added focusing on dentistry, optometry, massage, and chiropractic therapy, speaking from the Town's recent capital plan that includes a number of hopeful measures.
"Some of the bad news that our health centre is probably not aware of is that the west half is going to fall into the river," said David, pointing to slope stability issues.
In discussing the proposed zoning bylaw, Haugen was curious about who the town council represented, pointing to the language of the bylaw.
"Are they representing this requirement for zoning bylaws from the province and the template that they've given us, or are they representing our ratepayers in terms of economic burdens we might have because of this?" he asked.
"Like anyone, we have to follow the rules," said Mayor Weiterman. "And so, the Municipal Act is there and that's where we get our power from. The Community Plan and the Zoning bylaw must receive ministerial approval, but first and foremost, we're here to represent you and protect your interests. That's you elected us; to look after you."
Calvin Clark, another resident on Cameron Drive, said that the Town of Outlook may have been too late in coming up with the proposed bylaw framework.
"The town is a wee bit late coming to the purported rescue of the riverbank residential owners on the east bank of the South Saskatchewan River by now wanting to implement the proposed bylaws," he said. "As my father would say: it's like closing the barn door after the horses have gone."
Clark said that the Town has a responsibility to its residents.
"I think that you, the Town, as a public body, have a particular responsibility to those that have residences between Park and Progress," he said. "They need continued monitoring. They also need a much more robust investigation of mitigation. I don't know how current the readings are that Machibroda has, but in any event, they should be continued, they should be constant, they should be information related to those people in those areas so that they're equipped to make decisions."
Wayne Hove, speaking in his role as the president of LCBI High School, was perplexed as to how the school property somehow ended up in the crosshairs of the zoning bylaw.
"I have no idea how part of our property got into Area C," said Wayne. "No study! I know it's related to safety, Mr. Baxter, but I guess I do want to challenge a little bit that there IS range in engineering a little bit, is there not? (Baxter says 'Yes') How that line gets put would be my first challenge. I'm not saying there wasn't a process, but short of an actual study as was done in the other area, it just seems to be a little too general for my understanding. I would like to make a recommendation: abandon C and B."
Hove pointed out that houses in the area built in the 60's and 70's have zero movement, and said that the findings are "way too general", calling for a study to be done and published. Hove closed by sharing that LCBI's business model cannot afford insurance, and the proposed zoning bylaw could end up having a significant impact on the future of the school.
"It would become a white elephant - an institution that's been here for 112 years," said Wayne. "And this general sweep? I'll keep it short - no C and no B."
Kendra Christensen, whose issues with her home on Tufts Crescent have been spotlighted in The Outlook before, was the last person to speak. She says that she has done everything there is to do in her homeownership journey and wondered where the most recent readings of data had gone for her neighborhood area.
"One inclinometer was put in in 2014, two in '15, and one in '17," she said. "From my research, the last reading I could find for these were dated September 28, 2017."
"We've read them since then," said Graham, speaking from Machibroda's perspective. "We actually read them in 2019, and we did read them in 2022 as part of the outfall study."
Christensen asked where those most recent readings were located, as they weren't available on the Town's website. CAO Trew said the readings were part of another study, but they could certainly be published on the Town's website and called their absence an oversight.
"If this is something that we're basing this whole project off of, that information really needs to be public and available," said Kendra. "It was really concerning to me when it seemed like there were no readings done in the last six years. As we're moving through this bylaw, which was presented in 2020, it was aware of these readings. When I did my geotech report, dated May 27 of 2020, he wrote that there were no readings that he could find that were done since 2017."
The comments and views presented by those who spoke during the hearing gave Mayor Weiterman, CAO Trew, and all of town council things to consider in the official passing of both bylaws.
Both of the bylaw drafts are available to download on the Town's official website, and the full two-hour hearing is available to view on the Town's Facebook page.
