commenced 7:00 p.m.
Chair: Elmer Rudolph
Recorder: Gavin McLeod
Number of attendees: 15
1. Approval of minutes of previous meeting: Secretary brought wrong envelope, minutes will be available at November meeting.
2. Additional Agenda Items: Andrew Murray will speak about the New West Doc Fest 2012!
3. West Coast Green Light Society: Justin Cleveland gave a presentation on his medical marijuana dispensary at 907 12th Street, the presentation was in the form of a PowerPoint presentation with a Q&A session after. Numerous questions were asked and answered; Justin addressed issues involving clientelle, products, security of product and place, affect on the neighbourhood, business licensing, and legality.
4. Proposed changes to the NR-1 bylaw: The original NR-1 bylaw was created by residents of the West End of New Westminster with the goal of restricting the building of boxlike monster houses; the bylaw has been tweaked since then. The city has been attempting to convince owners of older home to renovate rather than demolish and build anew but the NR-1 restrictions have been found to adversely affect houses constructed before the implementation of the NR-1 bylaw. The proposed changes will affect the definition of basement based on height visible above ground surface, the proposed minor change will allow in an increase in floor space ratio.
5. Residents’ concerns about ongoing gas line replacements:: Fortis is in the process of replacing the aged gas mains in the city of New Westminster; most of the gas mains will be replace through the use of horizontal drilling but in some areas soil conditions require digging a shallow trench down centre of streets; the contractor will fill and patch the excavation and repaving will occur after the end of the project.
6. Recap of Summerfest at Grimston park and proposal for “garage sale” at Lord Tweedsmuir: Sloane Drennan reported on the 2012 Summerfest in Grimston park that took place on July 14th; approximately 800 people attended under sunny skies; the movie at night was “The Princess Bride”. Sloane proposed the idea of a “garage sale” at Tweedsmuir school tentatively scheduled for after the May long weekend. The proposed format is for participants to sell out of the trunks or tailgates of their vehicles, the school will raise money by charging for each vehicle.
7. Neighbourhood Traffic Advisory Committee Meeting: Gavin McLeod reported on the latest meeting (September 11th), the meeting did not have a quorum so it was not official. There was a report from a representative from Metro Vancouver who reported on an air quality study centred on Front Street but including City Hall, the levels under the parkade were found to be much higher than what was present in surrounding municipalities.
8. Citizens Police Committee Meeting: Gavin McLeod reported on the meeting of September 20th, the West Coast Green Light Society was an agenda item, the police offered their opinion on Marijuana dispensaries and “comfort clubs” and their point of view regarding legality, printouts of Canadian government regulations were handed out. It was reported that there was an increase in crime stats but most of the increases were attributed to the actions of 2 individuals. The police department resurrected its reserve officer program and recently graduated 12 members, they will serve the community in the are of crime reduction. The police department has increased its traffic division from 2 to 4 officers and designated one officer to deal with incidents involving mental health problems.
9. Reported problems with setting up a Block Watch in the west end: Gavin McLeod received an email from a west end resident complaining about lack of assistance from the crime prevention division of the police department, the problem was handled by the crime prevention department.
10. Additional Agenda Item: Andrew Murray announced the upcoming 2nd annual New West Doc Fest to be held on October 19th and 20th, 2012 at the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre, located at Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue in New Westminster. Documentaries will be Chasing Ice, The World Before Her, White Water Black Gold, Big Boys Gone Banana’s and Indie Game – The Movie. Festival Passes will be $20, Individual documentaries may be viewed at a cost of $5 for seniors and students and $7 for regular admission. Online purchase available soon, for now email tickets@newwestdocfest.ca to make arrangements. Tickets are available online at: http://nwdocfest.eventbrite.com. Website address for the Docfest is http://newwestdocfest.ca/
Meeting adjourned at: 8:45
Next meeting Tentatively for November 27th at Unity in Action Church from 7pm to 9pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment