Burnaby councillors might get a little more time to peruse their council meeting agendas before the press starts calling, due to a bylaw amendment put forward by the city clerk.
However, due to the change, the public would have a little less time to see the agenda prior to meetings.
Currently, councillors receive the agenda on the Thursday before the Monday meeting. The agenda is then made available to the public and online by noon on the Friday.
If the amendment goes through, the council agenda will not be released until 4:30 p.m. on the preceding Friday.
“This proposed change would provide council members with a little more time on Fridays to review the agenda and reports before receiving calls from the public and media, and avoid situations where they may not have had an opportunity to do so prior to being asked to comment on issues and proposals,” Dennis Back, the acting city clerk, stated in the amendment report.
All agendas for city boards, committees and commissions would then be published on the city’s website on the Monday for all meetings scheduled for that week, while council would receive those agendas on Thursday or Friday of the preceding week.
The bylaw changes will come forward for three readings, and then return to council for reconsideration and final adoption.
Building permits outpace 2013 numbers
Burnaby is experiencing a wave of new construction, with the city’s building permits surpassing 2013’s numbers and nearing those of 2012, according to a city staff report.
As of April 30, the city had issued 594 building permits for 2015. That number easily passes last year’s entire permit total – 127 – and has even gone beyond the 524 permits issued in 2013. And it is only 34 permits away from tying with the 628 permits issued in all of 2012.
Of the nearly 600 permits issued, 157 were for commercial buildings (149 of those were for alterations or repairs), 141 were for single-family homes (108 of those were for new builds), and 156 were for demolitions.
There were also 46 permits for multi-family buildings, with 34 of those for alterations or repairs.
As of April 30, there were 108 new single-family dwelling units built in the city, 42 duplexes, 42 strata units in buildings up to four storeys) and 158 strata units in buildings higher than four storeys.
Telus proposes cell tower on wheels
Telus is taking the whole “mobile” concept quite literally.
The company has put forward a rezoning application that would allow it to create a temporary Cell on Wheels installation to replace telecommunications antennas that are currently located at the former Telus industrial complex, according to a report from Burnaby’s director of planning and building, Lou Pelletier.
The complex is scheduled for demolition next month, the report stated.
The temporary set-up would be located near Loughheed Highway and Bainbridge Avenue and would be removed prior to July 1, 2016.
Telus also has a rezoning application in for a permanent spot for the antenna site – 2900 Bainbridge Ave. – but will move the antenna elsewhere if that application is not successful, the report stated.
The application will go to public hearing in council chambers at city hall on June 23 at 7 p.m.
