North Cypress-Langford Council: A Regional Recreational View

This month’s meeting began with a delegation from Neepawa consisting of representatives from the Yellowhead Centre, the Golf and Country Club, and the Curling Club. According to Wayne Jacobsen, board president for the Yellowhead Centre, a recent operational audit on the Yellowhead recommended the development of a strategic plan, and that process made it clear that the facility would likely need to be replaced within the next twenty years. That was when he thought it would be an opportune time to reach out to the golf course and curling club and see if there might be an opportunity for a joint facility down the road. They have even identified a piece of property near the current golf course and owned by the Town of Neepawa that could serve that purpose.

They came before the North Cypress-Langford Council not to ask for anything at this time other than for a representative to sit on the steering committee once it’s formed so that the entire area would be fairly represented and on the same page when it came to planning a new regional facility.

In planning matters, we revisited a few issues that have come to the table before. The new zoning bylaws, which have been under review and revision for several months now, are ready to come back for a second public hearing in the new year. The planning department has incorporated several suggested changes and believes the new bylaws to be a fair compromise for all involved.

As well, the lagoon build at Spruce Woods Colony which was built without proper planning permissions is finally before Council for a decision regarding the necessary variance and conditional use orders. Council still had questions about the distances from various nearby waterways and frontages, however, and because the project has not yet received Provincial licensing either, they decided to defer a decision to January.

Other planning matters included a couple of routine subdivisions and a new item was brought to Council regarding a dispute between a contractor and homeowner that has been going on since April. As there are safety issues that need to be addressed, the homeowner has been given a final deadline by written order by which to complete the necessary fixes. There is no action that Council needs to take at this time but the planning department wanted them to be aware of it in case it drags on even further.

Finally, Councillor Jardine reported that a new doctor will be visiting the community this week and a second has expressed interest. Carberry and area has struggled with consistent healthcare staffing so this is potentially good news for the area.

Other items at the December meeting were all fairly routine and handled quickly, including some equipment replacement, employee training, the new Carberry transfer station build, and release of reserve funds to the Brookdale Curling Centre to replace their ice plant.

It came to light following this month’s meeting that the CAO has been dismissed from her position as of December 15 and the assistant CAO is now the acting CAO of the municipality. As the activities that led to this dismissal are still under investigation, no other details are available at this time.