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An agenda for this meeting is available on the SPMRM website, and you can view a recording of the meeting via the municipality's YouTube channel .
Here are the highlights of the meeting:
CAO report
Acting chief administrative officer Clint Burton reported on a delegation from the Japan Travel Bureau Foundation, and a presentation given to executives and managers from several Japanese ski resorts.
“Their questions mostly revolved around how we operate under the resort municipality framework and how we collaborate with the resort and Tourism Sun Peaks,” Burton said.
Sun Peaks Arena operations
Burton also updated council with feedback regarding the Sun Peaks Arena, which he said have been positive from both residents and guests.
“That’s a testament to the hard work that’s been done by the arena staff,” he said.
March 22 will be the last day of operations for the arena. On March 23 staff will begin preparations for the AltiTunes festival.
EV charger replacement
The electric vehicle charging unit that has been offline at the Sun Peaks Centre is still not operational. The unit was replaced, but Burton said it is still not working properly, “owing to the load of the arena in that section of the grid.”
“We’re hoping this goes away once the arena circuit goes down,” Burton added.
He added the municipality is looking at expanding EV charging in that area.
Community Health Centre recommendation
“Without rehashing too much about how we got to where we are, we are still looking for an operator for the municipal health centre,” Burton said.
Staff recommended bringing in outside resources to facilitate this process to ensure there is a dedicated team responsible for reopening the health centre.
O’Toole sought an amendment to the recommendation directing staff to come back to council with a cost and specific consultant before approving this recommendation.
“We can make the decision from there, once we've also decided on what kind of the broad scope might be,” he said.
“The previous process took up a substantial amount of staff time and resources which has led to the delay and or inability to advance a significant amount of other work and move forward on other critical priorities,” the memo states.
A high-level overview of the consultant’s responsibilities would include revisiting both the Working Group Report and re-posting a Request for Proposals. This new RFP “could include a draft lease and partnering agreement framework/template for certainty,” the memo stated.
The consultant would also be responsible for distributing the RFP broadly amongst relevant networks. Additional support would include assisting the Sun Peaks Health Association.
“While the health association has a governance role, consideration could be given to an operational role in the interim as a short-term solution until a permanent private operator is found or consideration could be given to a long-term operational arrangement for the health association,” according to the memo.
As per the municipality’s procurement policy, the municipality could directly solicit suitable consultants and or award the contract to a known consultant.
“This flexibility would allow the municipality to get someone doing the work as soon as possible.”
Funds have not been budgeted for a consultant in this process, and staff estimate costs would range between $10,000-$12,000.
Administrative reports
Flight Deck relocation
Council will consider the relocation of Flight Deck Enterprises Inc., which has applied to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to relocate from 1160 Sun Peaks Rd. to the village centre at 3250 Village Wy.
Section 5.3 of the SPMRM Business Licence Bylaw does not permit retail cannabis within 250 metres of various uses in the community, including parks and schools. Two parks including the Plaza and Parcel S are located within the requested relocation area, and in accordance with provincial regulations, council must provide a written recommendation to the regulation branch as to whether it will consider the application.
“This isn't approving it or not approving it. It's just to get the feedback from council on whether you would like to proceed,” said director of planning and community services, Demitri Hofer. “We will then proceed down the normal rezoning path now.”
Rezoning application for 1376 Burfield Dr.
The owners of 1376 Burfield Dr. have applied for a site-specific rezoning to legalize a secondary suite in an existing half-duplex.
“There's been a bit of history in our building files with this property. At certain points they had unpermitted suites that were noted and then decommissioned,” Hoffer said, adding there is a covenant restricting the half duplex to only one dwelling unit. This covenant would need to be discharged to allow this.
Council moved that a zoning amendment bylaw no. 0234 be taken to a public hearing in conjunction with the regular council meeting to rezone 1376 Burfield Dr. to allow one auxiliary residential dwelling unit.
Request for speed enforcement on the road to Sun Peaks
Council moved to reach out to the Tkʼemlúps RCMP detachment and draft a letter to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to support a request for RCMP to enforce the speed on the road up to Sun Peaks.
“We've had a couple head on collisions, unfortunately, already this winter,” Coun. Kelly Dye said. “I think council, and maybe with support of the TNRD should reach out to the Tkʼemlúps RCMP and maybe look at some speed traps and enforcement, not at the bottom of the hill, not necessarily in Sun Peaks, but actually on the road. It was pretty atrocious what I saw yesterday, and I don't think it's a one off thing. I think it's happening way too frequently.”
BC Assessment Split Class Discussion
Council discussed the zoning related to complex developments such as condos and townhouses, which have historically been zoned for nightly rental. BC Assessment uses "split classification" for properties with dual uses, such as a home that is also a business.
The municipality was notified by staff at BC Assessment that they had gone back and reviewed five newer complexes, including Village Walk Townhomes, Peaks West, powder, Echo and Altitude that were not being taxed correctly and adjusted them to be under split class.
“We're working with staff on further reviews of many of the older properties which operate nightly, but that are in the class one residential tax category,” Mayor O’Toole said. “So it's kind of an ongoing process to see them taxed correctly so as not to unfairly burden residential homeowners or absentee owners that don't rent nightly, but are potentially paying extra taxes to support tourism-based services.”
“Is the current process limiting it to only townhome developments [and] multi-unit developments?” one in-person attendee asked.
“The long term goal would be to…reclassify anything that's being rented nightly as split class,” O’Toole clarified.
“Does that mean every unit is subject to the business classification, or is it only the units that rent on a nightly basis?” another resident asked.
Folks living in their property full time or using it for their own purposes are paying residential tax, O’Toole said.
“The only time split class kicks in is when you start the activity of renting nightly. Then how it works is it's Class One for every night it's not rented nightly, and it's Class Six for every night that it is rented nightly. So it's a blended model.”
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