Unauthorized private possessions around Buffalo Lake on county land may soon be claimed by the County of Stettler.
At its regular meeting Oct. 14, council passed a staff recommendation to urge residents to remove any private items on municipal property in Scenic Sands, Abbey Road, Buffalo Sands, Buffalo Lake Meadows, Rochon Sands Estates, Rochon Sands, Bolin and Buffalo Views Estates.
While county staff has erected signs to warn residents, these messages are apparently proving to be futile.
“It appears that all these efforts have had little effect,” said Tim Fox, chief administrative officer for the county.
“It will not make a lot of people happy, but it’s necessary.”
Letters will be sent to all property owners in the Buffalo Lake communities to remove any of their private possessions from municipal reserves and environmental reserves.
County staff will inspect the land randomly to help ensure private items are not on public land.
The Alberta Municipal Government Act provides that a municipality may take possession of lost or unclaimed property and after have taken specified steps,the municipality may dispose of the items as council directs.
In the letter, the county states that staff have noticed several items of personal property within the reserves that appeared to be lost, illegally stored or located, abandoned or unclaimed and have become eyesores, and public safety concern.
The county will conduct at least two inspections a year, which are not scheduled ahead of time.
In addition to cleaning up municipal and environmental reserve, the county will also be limiting ATV access to these areas by erected posts at all trail heads to prevent ATVs from using those access points to ride on the municipal and environmental reserve.
An inspection and clean-up will be completed before the end of 2009 (weather permitting) and again in late spring 2010.
Prior to anything being removed – all landowners with adjacent property will be notified by letter that these inspections will now be taking place.
Aggregate Levy Bylaw gets 1st Reading
Council gave first reading to the aggregate levy bylaw that outlines the imposition of a levy in respect to all sand and gravel businesses operating in the municipality. Funds collected from the levy will be used toward the cost of maintaining roads and infrastructure in the county. The levy will be $0.25 (25 cents) per tonne of sand and/or gravel hauled. Administration predicts the revenue from this new levy to be between $20,000 & $50,000 per year. A public information session was scheduled for November 10.
Vicious dogs
An attack by a vicious dog in the Gadsby area sparked discussion about raising fines and enforcement, although an updated bylaw died after first reading failed.
“The current dog-control bylaw (1387-08) lacks any authority for the County of Stettler to handle vicious dogs and/or vicious dog attacks,” said assistant chief administrative officer Yvette Cassidy.
“The proposed bylaw will assist Alberta Animal Services under contract with the county to better enforce dog control, deal with vicious dogs to protect people and ensure the county receives adequate reimbursement for costs with the appropriate penalty structure in place.
The proposed bylaw envisages significant penalties and fines in place to cover costs associated with the enforcement of the bylaw and to handle vicious dogs.
Many dog-owning members of council opposed the proposed amendments to the bylaw describing it as too restrictive.