Notes from the Feb. 22 meeting of Thompson City Council:
STILL SOME WATER METERS TO GO
In delivering the public works departmental report for January, public works director Wayne Koversky noted that although most Thompson homes and businesses now have water meters installed, there remain a few to go.
"We're still continuing to deal with water meter installations," he said. "We've probably still got a healthy 60-something to put in yet, counting businesses."
Installations began last summer, and by mid-September, had already hit the 70 per cent mark. As a last resort, the city can shut off water to properties where a meter has not been installed, though that is unlikely to happen, as the problems with the remaining properties are more technical in nature.
"There's just a few outstanding," said Koversky. "We're getting closer every day."
DRIVEWAY AMENDMENT GETS FIRST READING
A new bylaw amendment aiming to control the size of Thompson's driveways passed first reading.
"We're putting in place a system that will be able to control extensions of the driveway," explained Coun. Brad Evenson, who chairs the public works committee, which brought this bylaw forward. "There will be an actual system in place so that somebody can't just make their whole front yard a driveway."
According to the amendment, which is an amendment of the existing traffic bylaw, the maximum width of a driveway will be set at either 7.6 metres or one-third the width of the property, whichever is less. Should a property owner want to make their driveway wider than that, they would be allowed an extension of up to five per cent at the discretion of the city.
Koversky noted that this would prevent cases of driveways being extended over water mains without the city's knowledge, and that such extensions would in the future be given with a clause that if the city needs to access the water main, they would not bear any responsibility for driveway damage.
The amendment would not apply to the Burntwood Trailer Court.
Coun. Stella Locker was the lone councillor to vote against the amendment. "What we are going to do is allow the driveways to be wider," she said, questioning whether the bylaw would allow for larger vehicles to be parked in residential driveways.
BUS ROUTES BEING EVALUATED
In the public works committee's report to council, Evenson noted that Thompson Transit's new bus routes - which began in December - are still a work in progress.
"The new bus routes are in place and being evaluated," he said. "We've heard great comments on the new features of the new buses, as well the city has received some comments in regards to the new routes to better serve our customers. After a couple months of deliberation, the committee will be reevaluating the new routes to gauge customer usage and to see if there will be any need for changes."
The city acquired two new buses - featuring LED displays, more comfortable seating, enhanced accessibility and other improvements - from New Flyer Industries in Winnipeg last year. At that time, the routes were readjusted to hit the areas of the city with the highest ridership more often.
