CARSTAIRS - Council has reviewed and approved updates to several town bylaws, including regarding the storage of building materials on local properties.
The move came by way of motion at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
Mayor Lance Colby said the updates are part of an ongoing process designed to improve readability for residents, providing updated clarity to legislation.
“We are upgrading and revising the bylaws to make sure that they are clear for people and what can and cannot be done,” Colby told the Albertan. “We want to make sure people can read the bylaws and understand them.”
Colby noted that the changes and updates have not been prompted by complaints.
“We want to make sure that if something does become a concern we have something that we are able to act on,” he said.
Bylaw No. 999 Industrial Nuisance, Safety and Livability Issues’ outdoor storage of building materials section now states that, “No owner of real property shall allow on the premises the accumulation of building materials, whether new or used, unless the owner or occupier can establish that a construction or renovation undertaking is being carried out on the premise or for the normal course of the permitted business (and) that all parts must be kept within the confines of secure fencing and not in view of the public.”
Bylaw No. 926 prohibits the discharge of any projectile device which requires air pressure, spring power or other mechanical aperture to discharge a projectile from a barrel or bow.
Council approved an addition to the bylaw that now defines a projectile device as, “A device which fires any type of projectile through use of compressed gas, springs, other mechanical aperture, or physical force. Devices include but are not limited to those commonly referred to as paint ball guns, pellet guns, air soft guns, BB guns, bows or crossbows.”
Council also approved an amendment that states that “no person may discharge any projectile device on any property owned by or within the Town of Carstairs.”
Bylaw No. 966 - Residential Community Standards was amended to include a new definition of loitering, which now means “standing or waiting around idly or without apparent purpose.”
The bylaw’s untidy properties section on trees now states that “No person shall plant trees or shrubbery on town lands or cause trees or shrubbery to be planted on town lands without prior written authorization from the chief administrative officer (and) trees shall not hand into adjacent property.”
