North Cypress-Langford meets in Brookdale

Details

Published on Friday, November 25, 2016

Photo by Gloria Mott. From left: Fred Jackson, Ray Drayson, Bob Adriaansen (reeve), Sandra Jones (CAO), John McEntee (planning officer), Norm Campbell, Don Hockin, Gerond Davison. Missing from photo: Harold Tolton.

By Gloria Mott

RM of North Cypress-Langford

“Put your seatbelts on and watch your speed.” Staff Sgt. Clint Wikander of Blue Hills Detachment came with his quarterly crime report to the November meeting of the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford (NCL). Reeve Adriaansen and all council had travelled to Brookdale Good Neighbours’ Hall, Nov. 14. 

Wikander came armed – with doughnuts! His warning was in reference to the Westman Traffic Service having issued 91 speeding tickets in two days near the intersections of Hwys 1 and 5, where the speed limit changes from 110 to 100 km/hr. 

Overall, the stats for the area are looking good.  There have been 194 more traffic tickets issued this quarter, compared to last quarter. Many categories report a drop, such as calls to 911, assaults and thefts – and there were no break and enters this quarter. The last stat could be due in part to individuals from two of the three operating groups in Westman having individuals locked up. All in all, there are “good numbers.”

The detachment is  “flush for constables”, but short two corporals, which includes one for Carberry. Wikander expects the Carberry position to be rectified in the spring, but nothing is sure until it actually happens. As well, there is a community constable that works doing PR with schools.

Asked if they work with the Conservation officers, Wikander stated that they share information. However, both organizations are “tight for bodies and money”. 

Development Officer John McEntee questioned the availability of drugs in Brandon. The RCMP works closely with Brandon Police as well. “There are lots of drugs in Brandon,” he said, which includes the deadly Fentanyl.

Commenting that it was good to see officers in red serge on Remembrance Day, Wikander noted that most officers that attend services are doing it on their own time – that it is the one service that officers make sure they do not miss.

Conservation Corridors

“It’s not private land… there is value in keeping it for public use… natural areas benefit both the water shed and the soil.”

A rate payer made a presentation to council about some mowing done on a conservation corridor adjacent to his property.  After a lengthy discussion was held, he also suggested that council should actively enforce the conservation corridor by-law. There is a permit system that allows cutting when it is agreed by council. 

Council discussed this further later in the meeting. Having viewed the mowing and noting the damage was negligible; it was only about 20 feet across, and having interviewed neighbours and been unable to determine who actually did the mowing, they do not feel there is a case to be enforced. They also worry more about the hazard of having a short wire fence at the edge of a field. They will write a letter to the ratepayer expressing their findings.

Planning 

Several items were explained by Cypress Planning Officer, John McEntee and acted on by council.

Two conditional use hearings and one variation hearing were held. Brad and Brenda Wells applied to subdivide a 4.25 acre portion from their agricultural property SE 30-12-14, which required both types of hearings: a conditional use for a non-farm dwelling and a variation to allow a reduction in size from five acres to 4.25 acres. There were no concerns expressed with this proposal.

Mr. B. Ellis attended the hearing in regards to the Netset Communications tower proposed for NE 20-14-15 (Bray Farms). The tower is set back from the residence by more than the 1.5 times the height of the tower (250’); it is also set back at least 250’ from the road.

Mr. Ellis was concerned because the first tower that was erected at that site (Rogers) involved trenching across his property to the north, to access Neepawa. McEntee gave assurances that there are no trenching plans that he knows of, in regards to this proposal. If the towers are removed, the site must be returned to “as before” condition.

After the closing of the hearings, both proposals were passed, with the Netset having the condition of procuring all licenses and permits.

Council looked at two proposals for pipelines for Acadia Colony. The first involves a water and electrical line from SW 22-12-14 to SW 14-12-14. It involves three road crossings on 69N, on 81W at 68N and on 80W. All costs to be borne by the applicant.

The second is also an 8” water and electrical line from NW 22-11-14 to SE 27-11-14. This involves only two crossings: an undeveloped crossing on 80W and on road 64N. Both to be installed in accordance to NCL requirements and cost borne by applicant. 

Both these crossings were approved.

McEntee also presented a labyrinth of unused municipal and old provincial roads, that exist along highway 351 (between SW 2-11-13 and NE 34-10-13, and SE 2-11-13 and NW 35-10-13). McEntee called it “kind of a mess” as these roads run through Jaeger, Harder and Feldman properties, cutting them into a number of small pieces. He recommends that the old roads be closed and amalgamated with the landowners’ properties. Already there are some buildings encroaching on the public lands.

Council agreed that it would make sense to close most of them, but the reeve recommended keeping the N-S municipal road that connects with the old highway “just in case.” Any road closures would be done at the expense of the landowners.

Council will give a letter indicating they will consider closing all but the NS municipal road. CAO will talk with Highways regarding the provincial road.

Water system

Residents in the RM of Rosedale wish to tie into the Langford area Neepawa water line. There are eight additional properties to be added.

The other option would be to have their own water system, but this would cost millions.

In the end, CAO Jones agreed to set up a meeting between North Cypress-Langford, the RM of Rosedale and the Water Services Board. Don Hockin and Ray Drayson were appointed to the Water Commission.

Later in the meeting, Council received a letter from other ratepayers, which complained about the low water pressure on their water line. 

Councillor R. Drayson admitted to the statement in the letter that he had told them that “the municipality guarantees water supply, not water pressure.” The statement is true, as pressure varies along the line and some residents have had to put an $800 booster pump on their line to get pressure. However, this makes more economic sense than installing a $250,000 pump on the main line. They will recommend this action to the ratepayers.

Other business

Crimestoppers requested a grant of $200, which council had done in years past, but not the last couple of years. Council agreed to the grant to assist in website and office costs.

The Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op proposal to build an agricultural products site east of Neepawa adjacent to (west of) their anhydrous site was given conditional approval, with the access being from the anhydrous site road. 

Manitoba Highways has deemed that they want the access to be straight across from the entrance into the HyLife plant, with a frontage road going east to the subdivision. There were some concerns about the amount of traffic at the HyLife entrance, but as it is Highways’ call, they agreed and amended the resolution requiring shared access passed on April 11, 2016.

The request for a crosswalk at Brookdale School was given consideration. Council agreed to have a crosswalk painted and signage erected. 

There was a request that a representative from NCL be appointed to the Neepawa Town Council Regional Recreation Steering Committee. This group will explore possibilities that will enhance and improve recreation and leisure activities throughout the region. Ray Drayson was appointed.

Communications 

There was an invitation to the annual meeting of the Veterinary Services Commission. In the province there are 27 provincial veterinary districts. Gerond Davison explained that these were started in the ’70s in an effort to get large animal clinics in small rural towns. Neepawa has one such clinic. 

However, there has been some ‘rumblings’ from private vets that they should not be competing with subsidized clinics. Davidson noted that the funding for these clinics has not changed in 19 years.

A letter from G. Stevenson addressed the signage at Brookdale. Old, weathered and advertising businesses that no longer exist or have moved to other places. This will be referred to the Brookdale Community Club via Don Hockin, as communities generally pay for their own signs.

Council had forwarded a resolution to the annual convention lobbying the province for more road resurfacing. However the AMM has responded that the road budget has increased so they will not bring the resolution forward. This disappointed some members who felt their voice was not being heard – and it is too late to schedule a private meeting with the Highways Dept.

Around the table

Don Hockin noted that the $1,000 grant to the Neepawa and Area doctor recruitment committee should be paid. This fund is put in the hands of local physicians to aid them in recruiting other doctors. As this has been a longtime grant for Langford, council agreed.

Council hired Chris Winthrop as equipment operator.

Grady Stephenson’s title has been further identified as “Manager of Parks, Facilities & Sanitation.”

Besides being the first council meeting at Brookdale for a long time, this was also the first meeting with a differently formatted agenda. Gone are the motion papers that the council sign ahead of the meeting to get items onto the table. The resolutions are now typed into the agenda, and movers and seconders filled in during the meeting. Council had some positive comments about the new format. (The reporter likes it too!)

Being school tax payment time, accounts totalling $7,217,855.01 were approved for payment. 

Next NCL meeting will be Dec. 12. The next joint meeting (with the Town of Carberry Council) will be for both November and December and will take place on Dec. 5. 

Correction: There was an error in the original version of this article. The meeting was incorrectly stated to have been on Oct. 14. The error has since been rectified to the correct date of Nov. 14.