ATHABASCA — Town of Athabasca councillors will have a full plate for their monthly meeting this August, with three community presentations, three bylaws, and a hand-written speed limit request on the agenda.
Councillors will gather at the Town Office Tuesday, Aug. 13 for their evening meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. Elected officials will first hear an update from Staff Sgt. Mark Hall on policing stats for the first quarter of 2024.
Hall lists combating the growing number of break and enters as the detachments first priority this year. From April to June of this year, 53 property crime incidents have been reported; if this trajectory continues, Athabasca RCMP estimate they could see 212 incidents within the year, higher than their target of 150 reports.
One Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson is slated to speak on behalf of EllisDon Capital, and last but certainly not least, long-time resident Debbie Doole will pitch a thank-you event for the volunteers and businesses that responded to the July 23 Grand Union Hotel fire.
Councillors will also have a chance to discuss a lot consolidation request, give first reading to a new animal control bylaw, and rescind a bylaw which granted the Grand Union Hotel special status.
Bylaw 14-08, signed into effect in 2008 by former Mayor Colleen Powell, denoted the now-gone hotel as a Municipal Historic Resource (MHR). MHR’s fall under the provincial Historic Resources Act, and MHR status prevents demolition or significant alterations that would change the original character of the resource, among other aspects.
And speed limit discussions around the town continue; a resident submitted a hand-written request to increase the speed limit to 50 km/h along 46A Avenue, up from the current max of 40km/h.
The request is slated to be discussed immediately following a councillor-submitted request to consider reducing all speed limits within the town to 40km/h.
Council meetings are open to the public and can be attended in-person at the Athabasca Town Office. The meeting’s agenda can be viewed on the Town’s website by clicking here.
