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An amazing year so far, says mayor
Kimberley City Council Report
By Nowell Berg
On October 15, City of Kimberley council held its regular bi-monthly meeting.
Councillors Kyle Dalum, Kent Goodwin, Nigel Kitto, Jason McBain, Darryl Oakley and Sandra Roberts were present along with Mayor Don McCormick.
Building Boom Continues
From July through September (Q3), 81 building permits were issued by the City Planning Department. At this rate, contractors are on pace to set a new record for construction in Kimberley.
Renovations to existing single-family dwellings leads the pack with 21 permits in Q3. New home construction accounted for 11 permits. Garage or carport construction totalled 14 of the 81 permits.
The Q3 building permits are valued at almost $14 million.
Year-to-date, the building permit value exceeds $27 million which is more than double the 2018 value of $11.1 million.
The city has collected almost $250,000 in building permit fees.
Commenting on this exceptional growth, Mayor McCormick said, “We have three people in the planning department and pound for pound you guys are knocking it out of the park.”
He added the construction is not just one big project within one sector, but “this is across the board.” Building construction not only includes new or renovated homes, but multi-family residential, commercial and light-industrial building as well. McCormick said, “It’s been a very, very long time since we’ve had this diverse building and interest in the community.”
So far, “It’s been an amazing year,” he exclaimed.
SunMine Generates Dollars
Chief administrative officer Scott Sommerville presented council with the Q3 (July to September) SunMine (pictured above) electricity generation statistics.
July – 198.05 Mwh for $21,015
August – 217.89 Mwh for $24,432
September – 113.19 Mwh for $15,676
During Q3, SunMine generate a total of $61,123 in revenue for the city.
Sommerville also told council the potential SunMine sale to Teck continues. However, he did not provide details or a date when it might be completed.
In 2018 local elections, a majority of Kimberley residents voted in favour of the city proceeding with the sale of SunMine.
Bylaw Enforcement
During September, the Bylaw Enforcement Officer (BEO) was again busy dealing with residents who continue to violate the garbage bylaw, which states garbage containers should be put out for pick-up no sooner than 7 a.m. on collection day. The BEO dealt with seven such incidents.
One ticket was issued along with three verbal warnings and three written notices of streets and parking violations. Four derelict abandoned vehicles and three unattached trailers were removed from city streets. The BEO also dealt with four noise complaints.
The BEO’s focus over the next few weeks will be “patrolling for recreational vehicles parked on city streets in an attempt to get them off the streets before snow removal operations start.”
Kimberley city council meets twice monthly starting at 7 p.m.; open to the public.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be October 28 at City Hall.
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