Home »
RDEK Board Highlights
The following is a synopsis of what occurred during the Oct. 4 Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) board of directors’ meeting.
New OCP for Lake Windermere goes to public hearing Oct. 23
The board gave first and second readings to Bylaw No. 2929, a new Official Community Plan (OCP) for the Lake Windermere area. The new plan will replace the 2008 OCP and contains updated polices for land use in the area. A public hearing on Bylaw No. 2929 will be held at 7:30 p.m., October 23 at the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Grant approved for Theatre/ Mission Road and Hwy 95A Intersection Project
The board has approved a $120,000 Community Works Fund grant for the Highway 95A – Theatre/Mission Road Intersection Project. The $1.39 million project is an initiative of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and City of Cranbrook and will see traffic signals installed to improve safety and traffic flow.
Application to be submitted for Cold Spring Creek Debris Flow Mitigation Project
An application will be submitted to the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund, Structural Flood Mitigation Stream (SFMS) for the Cold Spring Creek Debris Flood Mitigation Project. Northwest Hydraulic Consultants has completed an assessment on the creek and recommends constructing a large debris trap adjacent to the existing irrigation reservoir and channel improvements downstream of the reservoir. Since 2013, there have been three debris flow events on Cold Spring Creek including one this August. If approved, up to $750,000 of the estimated $900,000 project could be funded by the SFMS grant.
FireSmart funding sought
The RDEK will submit a grant application to the Union of BC Municipalities’ Community Resiliency Investment Program for $150,000 for FireSmart education, interagency cooperation, emergency planning and FireSmart activities in the RDEK.
Area B Intersection Lighting Service Area given three readings
The board has given three readings to the Electoral Area B Intersection Lighting Service Establishment Bylaw. The bylaw would expand the Jaffray and Area Intersection Lighting Service to allow for the installation of intersection lights at four additional intersections in Area B. It has been submitted to the provincial government for required approvals and, if approved by the province, will come back to the board for adoption.
New fire trucks approved for purchase
The board approved the purchase of two fire tenders for Windermere and Fairmont Hot Springs Fire Departments and one fire engine for the Edgewater Fire Department. The costs to purchase the trucks will be included in the 2020 budget.
Two new parks to become part of Regional Parks Plan
The board approved the designation of two new parks in the Regional Parks Plan. St. Mary Lake Park is located in Area E and is now fully operational. Waldo Cove Park is located in Area B in the Lake Koocanusa area and is still in development.
Discretionary Grants in Aid (DGIA)
The following organizations will receive grants:
- The District of Sparwood will receive $5,000 from the Electoral Area A DGIA account for its Youth Archery Range.
- The Blue Lake Forest Education Society will receive $5,000 from the Electoral Area C DGIA account for Phase One of the Joseph Creek Fish Action Plan.
- Fairmont Community Association will receive $1,200 from the Electoral Area F DGIA account for the 2019 FireSmart Community Ed and Clean Up project.
- The Radium Hot Springs Public Library will receive $1,500 from the Electoral Area G DGIA account and the Invermere Public Library will receive $1,500 from the Electoral Area F DGIA account for their Community Technology Hub Projects.
- The Windermere Valley Ski Club will receive $3,000 from the Electoral Area F DGIA and $1,600 from the Electoral Area G DGIA accounts for the purchase of new timing and race equipment.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce 651 Highway 93/95 (Invermere crossroads) – for – Bylaw No. 2929 cited as “Regional District of East Kootenay – Lake Windermere Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2929, 2019.”
OTHER MEETINGS
Open Houses – Draft Solid Waste Management Plan – as part of the ongoing consultation period on the Draft Solid Waste Management Plan, there will be open houses from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. (with brief overview presentations at 2:30pm and 6:30pm) on the following three dates:
Tuesday, October 22 at Kanata Inn, 8888 Arrow Road, northwest Invermere crossroads.
Wednesday, October 23 at Park Place Lodge, 742 Highway 3, Fernie.
Thursday, October 24 at Manual Training Centre at 202 Kootenay Street North, Cranbrook.
Open House – Panorama and Area Official Community Plan –
Featuring a presentation of the draft Official Community Plan on Monday, December 30 – 2- 6 p.m. at the Panorama Fire Hall – Training Room – 2340 Springs Cr. Road, Panorama/
REMINDER TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERNET SPEED TEST
Thank you to everyone who has tried out the Regional Broadband Committee’s online testing portal. If you haven’t yet tried, give it a whirl. If you’ve already participated, you can do it more than once and they encourage participation at different times of day.
To run the performance test visit HERE. Enter your location/postal code and hit start. The test generally takes less than one minute to run.
For those who have noticed different speed test results, here is an explanation we received from the Broadband Corporation: The CIRA testing servers are not installed directly on any particular ISP network, which provides an unbiased result of the actual test (e.g. if you’re a Shaw or Telus customer and conduct a Google search for a speed test, the first few results will produce testing platforms which are hosted on their networks. Results of using these other speed tests will produce inflated results because the test doesn’t leave their network and doesn’t mimic access to external resources that internet users typically seek). Results also may vary depending on which exchange server you choose when running the test. Further, performance will vary based on time of day (e.g. everyone getting on Netflix after dinner). That’s why we encourage residents to take the test multiple times, at different times of day.
NEXT BOARD MEETINGS
Thursday, October 31 – Committee Meetings – TBA
Friday, November 1 – RDEK Board Meeting followed by Kootenay East Regional Hospital District Meeting – 9-11:30 a.m.
Lead image: St. Mary Lake. e-KNOW file photos
RDEK
