Thompson Planning District Board passes big fee increases for home relocation permits
If you're thinking of doing some home relocation within the city get ready to dig way deeper into your wallet after the Thompson Planning District Board passed a new fee schedule June 1.
Under the resolution sent on to council for approval, relocation permits for mobile homes jump from $100 to $750 and a relocation permit for a ready-to-move home (RTM) soars from $100 to $1,000.
The Thompson Planning District Board, which is made up jointly of the City of Thompson and Local Government District of Mystery Lake, came into existence in 1978 and has jurisdiction under the provincial Planning Act.
Mayor Tim Johnston chairs the 10-member board. Other members include Jack Burden, administrator of the Local Government District of Mystery Lake, Brian Barton, regional lands manager for the Manitoba Department of Conservation, and Thompson deputy mayor Oswald Sawh and city councillors Cory Young, Charlene Lafreniere, Brian Wilson, Judy Kolada, Stella Locker and Harold Smith.
Burden, Barton, Wilson and Young were absent from the June 1 Thompson Planning District Board meeting.
Get ready to stoke the fire pit, Thompson!
Smoke em' if you got em.'
After years of delay, Thompson residents - over the vigorous objections of the fire department - are on the verge - perhaps - of having the opportunity to legally enjoy an open-air fire pit campfire in their backyards on fine long Northern nights during the short summer season.
Coun. Judy Kolada, chair of the public safety committee, which requested a bylaw allowing open burning be allowed, summed it up by saying, "Our fire department is strongly opposed to fire pit, our residents are strongly in favour. This bylaw represents compromise and concessions on both sides."
Coun. Charlene Lafreniere has also worked tirelessly to allow city residents to have open fires at home so a summer evening can be enjoyed without having to saturate skin in "bug spray and Deet."
Lafreniere refused to let the issue die under former fire chief Ken Thevenot, who was resolutely opposed on safety grounds, as is current fire chief Ian Thompson, although he worked with council to find common ground when it became clear councillors had no intention of baking down on the issue.
Council approved in a 4-2 recorded vote first reading June 1 of a bylaw that will allow city residents to engage in open air burning if passed through third reading.
Kolada, Lafreniere, Coun. Harold Smith and Mayor Tim Johnston voted in favour of the open air burning bylaw, while deputy mayor Oswald Sawh and Coun. Stellar Locker voted against it. Councillors Cory Young and Brian Wilson were absent.
Johnston said "quality of life" is the biggest challenge Thompson has in attracting new residents to live here. He noted not everyone has a cottage or campsite they can go to on summer nights, which he noted, is a brief season in Northern Manitoba, so he said he supports open air burning as a fair way to make summer evenings enjoyable for as many as possible.
Most Manitoba municipalities allow such open-air fires, but Thevenot, noting Thompson has been ground zero almost for several major summer forest fire infernos over the last 30 years, remained adamantly opposed during his tenure as fire chief.
Better not put match to wood yet, however. The proposed bylaw still needs to pass second and third reading and the current ban on open fires will have to be rescinded. And, if and when the bylaw passes, there will be restrictions - plenty of them, including, to name just a few:
?residents will have to apply for a fire pit permit;
?the fire chief will have the discretion to refuse to grant a permit or only grant it with conditions;
?only charcoal or "cut seasoned wood" will be allowed to be burned. No rubbish or leaves can be burned;
?screens or grates may be required;
?a fire "shall not be set in windy conditions conducive to creating a running fire or nuisance to any other person."
