Crossfield council will hold a public hearing on Oct. 6 to close a road as per Bylaw 2015-13, even though the road has not technically existed for the past 80 years.
Although the Town thought it was expanding its fire hall onto Town property, it turned out in the 1930s the bylaw that closed a road, which was an offshoot of the highway that existed before Highway 1A, was not registered properly with the Province.
That road allowance still exists at Alberta Land Titles, Alberta Registry and Alberta Transportation, according to Ken Bosman, Crossfield’s chief administrative officer.
Before the Town can close the road it must have a first reading of a bylaw to close the road, hold a public hearing, petition the minister of transportation to allow the Town to close the road and then pass the road closure in council.
“This is (how the) municipal government act defines how you close a road,” he said.
After the public hearing, how long the road closure takes is up to the discretion of the minister’s approval. Until then, any construction on the area which lies in the southeast of Township 28, Range 1, is technically not allowed.
“The difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to make sense,” Bosman said of the process.
Industrial business
Council asked administration to reach out to industrial owners and businesses to meet and have a dialogue regarding what could be done to enhance and make the industrial area of town more appealing.
Bosman said one of the mandates the Town has been focusing on is reaching out to the community in a much more aggressive way.
“This is really just an extension of that,” he said. “We know there are some issues the Town needs to address in terms of infrastructure and in terms of the business climate of growth we’ve got happening in the next few years.”
According to Bosman, Crossfield’s non-residential tax is 50 per cent lower than most other municipalities and that comes with obvious limits in terms of money coming in, but is very strong from a positive business perspective.
“They’re an important part of our town from a revenue point of view, but also an employment point of view,” Bosman said.
He said the meeting is an open communication, but a levy regulated by the business community to target specific areas could be a possible topic council and administration would like input on, said Bosman.
“Everyone thinks people are absolutely so against taxes,” Bosman said. “Most of the business owners I have talked to, it’s a ‘what you pay versus what you get’ equation.”
Financial Responsibility
Council gave third and final reading to the Financial Responsibility Bylaw 2015-14.
The bylaw, which was given first and second reading at the Sept. 1 council meeting, calls for council and administration to explain during a council meeting any increase of spending in the annual budget report that is above the annual inflation rate for Alberta and the inflation adjusted growth in the net assessment of the Town.
Third reading was delayed so Councillor Hadi Feltham, who missed the Sept 1. meeting, could give input.
The bylaw passed unanimously although Mayor Nathan Anderson was not present during voting.
“I’m in favour of it and I’ve already voted twice on it,” he said during the Sept. 1 meeting in regards to his anticipated absence.
