CARSTAIRS -- At the regular council meeting on April 23, councillors passed second reading of the Mandalay Estates area structure plan following a public hearing and a delegation from the town's planner Urban Systems.
Carl McDonnell, Carstairs CAO, said the public hearing featured representatives from the developer, Mandalay Estates, talking about their plans for the area.
"The developer laid out their plans for the subdivision. They talked about the expansion of the school site, the seniors' site, and the tri-services building site, that would go east of the campground," said McDonnell.
Delegation members Erin Eyre and Sarah Nielsen from Urban Planners presented a review of the Mandalay Estates school site land use redesignation application, Mandalay Estates senior's lodge site land use redesignation application, and Mandalay Estates tri-services site land use redesignation application.
A background information note from Urban Systems provided to council stated that the subject site is located in the east-central area of the Town of Carstairs, in the Mandalay Estates neighbourhood.
The Mandalay Estates school site area is 4.5 hectares and is comprised of several land use districts, including low density residential - single detached (R-1), low density residential - two dwelling (R-2) and medium density - attached dwelling (R-3).
The Town of Carstairs is proposing to redesignate the area to public facility and recreation (PFR).
The seniors' lodge site intended for redesignation comprises 2.54 hectares and is composed of several land use districts including low density residential - single detached (R-1) and medium density - attached dwelling (R-3). The town is proposing to redesignate the area to high density residential - multi-dwelling (R-4).
The tri-services site intended for redesignation comprises 2.06 hectares and is currently zoned medium density residential - attached dwelling (R-3). The town is proposing to redesignate the area to public facility and recreation (PFR).
McDonnell said there were about 25 residents in the gallery for the meeting.
"There were two primary concerns the residents had," he said. "One is regarding the roadway north going through Stone Garden that would link to Stonebridge subdivision to this Mandalay subdivision. The other is that some of the homeowners that back on to the current field would like to have a green strip between the homes to be built in the future and their properties.
McDonnell said there were also concerns about the noise that the emergency vehicles coming out of the tri-services building would generate.
Council passed second reading for the three separate motions to amend the land use bylaw for the Mandalay Estates area: for the seniors' lodge area site, emergency tri-services area site and school addition area site.
"We're waiting for Alberta Transportation (AT)," he said. "It's called a transportation impact assessment that was required by Alberta Transportation. It's a study saying what the traffic flow and traffic volume will be with this new subdivision.
"The report was submitted to AT and they had some questions, which were answered. Then they came back with additional requirements. So we're just working through those."
McDonnell said council can't do third and final reading without Alberta Transportation signing off on the transportation impact assessment.
In other council news, council repealed a number of bylaws including Bylaw No. 20 from 1914 regarding the removal of snow and ice from sidewalks, No. 97 regarding smoking at the arena from 1948, and No. 294A from 1966 regarding abatement of a nuisance.
"All those ones were repealed," said McDonnell. "The arena smoking laws are now covered under the smoking and vaping bylaw that we have. The nuisance ones were repealed because they're covered under other bylaws."
Council also voted to approve Bylaw No. 1088, the alarms and intrusion systems bylaw, which repealed the previous alarms and intrusion systems bylaw No. 961.
"The big change is we added fire alarms," he said. "We had a bylaw previously that said a homeowner or business had their alarm system going off and they weren't getting it fixed and the community peace officers or RCMP were going out there quite a bit we could fine them. This adds the fire department sign in as well."
Council also repealed policies regarding three committees that no longer exist: protective services, Carstairs Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and Carstairs finance.
Council approved the mutual aid agreement for fire services, which sets out guidelines for providing mutual assistance to the municipalities for control of fire, fire prevention, emergency medical services, hazardous materials control and/or other emergency support in the event of a major fire disaster or other emergency.
The agreement is between Carstairs, Cremona, Didsbury, Olds, Sundre and Mountain View County.
"It's an agreement we've had for probably over 20 years," said McDonnell. "It was due every five years. It came out a year ago and we extended it by one year. Now we've negotiated and there are no major changes, so we've agreed to a 10-year agreement so we're not constantly updating it."
Council approved funding once again for the Richard Dais Scholarship and the Citizenship Award for the Hugh Sutherland School cap and gown awards.
