WEYBURN – Weyburn city council approved a request from residents to use a buffer strip behind their home on Sixth Street.
Alex and Jenna Fitzpatrick submitted a request to use the municipal buffer strip as a garden space, measuring about 16 feet by 24 feet, adjacent to the Wheatland Seniors Centre property.
Council was told that according to the Planning and Development Act, all of part of a buffer strip can be leased for agricultural or horticultural use, or temporary development for landscaping.
The area is not a park space, and has no access lane by vehicle.
Parks staff indicated there has been miscommunications in the past about maintaining it, as there is little delineation between the strip and the Wheatland property, and there have been issues in the past with maintenance, including grass cutting and garbage removal.
Council approved a recommendation from staff to lease the space for two years with a number of conditions, at a nominal lease fee of $1 per year.
The conditions include use as a garden or for landscaping, and the garden must be for personal use only, with no structures to be built, and no vehicular access permitted.
Asked if neighbours should be notified, city development officer Janine Fletcher said there was no consultation and none was required in the act governing the use of the land.
Coun. Jeff Richards noted this strip is unique in that there is no vehicle access possible to the land.
“That is correct. It looks like it might’ve been intended to be a lane, but it was never developed that way,” said Fletcher.
• In other council business, council passed their building bylaw a second time, unchanged since it was first passed in November, so they could send it to the provincial government for ministerial approval.
The bylaw, first approved in 2012, was updated in November to add “unsafe conditions” to the bylaw, outlining the standards set out in the national building code.
Provincial legislation requires that the ministry receive two certified copies of the bylaw in for ministerial approval, but the province never received the copies, so the bylaw passed in November was invalid.
Council passed all three readings of the bylaw, since it was unchanged since November, and will now send in the certified copies to the government.
• Council accepted a tender bid for a wide area mower for the Parks department. The department had an equipment budget set for $100,000, and a single bid for the mower came in from South Country Equipment, with the cost of $95,407, including taxes.
Asked if there was a concern that only one bid came in for this equipment, city engineer Jennifer Wilkinson said in the past the City only received one bid, and they checked out the specifications, finding this equipment meets all requirements for what they need.
Asked if the mower might arrive for spring or summer use by the department, Wilkinson replied, “We’re not counting on that.”
