Lake Country Council Meeting Highlights November 2, 2010

Community Branding Project

The Community Branding project is generating a great deal of community interest! A poll was recently posted the District website asking people to select their preferred option of a logo and tagline. We received over 100 responses, our most popular poll to date. Thanks to everyone for their comments. All of the input gathered so far, from the poll, open house and others from the community, will be forwarded to the consultants, Zappworxx, for review and tabulation of the results. You are welcome to continue to submit your comments and we will accommodate them to the best of our abilities within the project timelines. Send them to development@lakecountry.bc.ca, drop them off or give us a call. We hope the new brand will be original, creative and put Lake Country on the map.

Land Development

Zoning Amendment for a property located on Bond Road and owned by Jeff Oland was given third reading and will be adopted at the next Council Meeting on November 16^th. The owner wishes to subdivide his land into four lots and the new zoning is for rural residential. A map change to a development at the Lakes was also given third reading. However, Council asked staff to make sure that the single width lanes in the area don’t cause any safety, parking, snow removal or emergency vehicle problems.

Open Air Performances

Grant Lawrence, founder, president and organizer of Open Air Performances, presented the highlights of the 2010 season and announced that they were awarded the Lake Country Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Licence Excellence Award in the category of Community Contributor! The 2010 performance season had 9 concerts, 21 acts and 86 performances with attendance increasing to over 1,500 people. The CAO suggested that staff discuss opportunities with the Economic Planning & Development Committee (EPDC) and the Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee to help make sure these events not only continue but prosper.

Budget Process Guidelines

Council approved and commended the budget guidelines and timelines presented in the report from the CAO and Chief Financial Officer. Council had requested that the budget process be more ‘on time’ and approved sooner rather than later. The Financial Plan Schedule attached to the report proposes reasonable timelines for preparation, discussion and meeting mandatory requirements. Some of the upcoming steps are the review and approval of the Corporate Business Plan by November 16^th and the first draft budget by December 5th.

Transit Master Plan

Michelle Orfield, Senior Urban Transportation Planner outlined the proposed Transit Master Plan for the community including future plan development. Council pointed out that there is a huge demand and necessity for transit in the community for all residents. More public consultation will be held by BC Transit in regards to the Transit Master Plan during the weeks of November 29^th and December 6^th and BC Transit will be making another presentation to Council on November 16^th to specifically address some the local service area issues that have been voiced by many residents in the community.

Fire Department Quarterly Report

The Fire Chief presented the Fire Department statistics for the 2010 3^rd quarter. For full details check out the presentation in the Agenda package. In a nutshell, the Fire Department managed to get in a lot of valuable training this year mostly because of the great weather. They also continued to attend many of the local schools and promote the fire prevention programs which are always a huge hit and a great benefit to the community

Neighbourhood Park Development Policy

This policy was developed to encourage community groups to rally together and help develop neighbourhood parks in their communities. The policy provides a framework for creating the parks making it easier for both residents and the District to move forward in developing the park design. Council greatly appreciated the policy and adopted a slightly amended version to make sure that the neighbourhood parks are all inclusive and meet accessibility standards for impaired residents.

Increasing Reservoir Levels

The report from Summit Environmental Consultants on the environmental impacts and costs associated with increasing the reservoir levels at Swalwell, Crooked and Oyama Lakes was endorsed by Council. There is a great deal of work still to be done and recommendations will be brought forward in the Water Master Plan for Council to consider.

Future of Grade 7’s in Lake Country Schools

Anna Hunt Binkley, Lake Country’s SD Trustee, will tentatively be at the December 7th Council meeting to talk about the future of grade 7’s in Lake Country. There was a recent announcement that full day kindergarten will now be offered in all public schools in BC by September 2011 which results in some significant space demands. One of the suggested options for addressing this issue is reconfiguring GESS to accommodate grade 7s.

Photo Contest

The District recently put out a request for help in creating an image bank that will be used in the marketing and promotion of Lake Country. We received over 240 entries of stunning, creative photos in the community. What a great result! The EPDC shortlisted the top 14 photos which will be voted on by Council and the top 6 photos will be announced and awarded prices at the November 16^th Council meeting! First Prize - $300 cash & $100 gift certificate for Lake Country Builders Mart; Second Prize – $200 cash & Ex Nihilo Vineyards Private Tasting ($160 value); Third Prize – $80 cash & $100 gift certificate for Lake Country Builders Mart; Fourth Prize – $50 cash; Fifth Prize - $20 cash. Here’s a sneak peak at some of the 14 that were selected.