CANMORE – Those used to submitting public hearing submissions to Canmore council are asked to take note of a new deadline.
During the Tuesday (Aug. 18) council meeting, the Town's mayor and council approved a bylaw amendment to change the deadline for written submissions received for public hearings to the Friday prior, as opposed to 9 a.m. the same day.
“It has long been council’s practice to schedule second and third readings of bylaws requiring public hearings on the agenda for the next business meeting following the hearing,” Cheryl Hyde, municipal clerk, wrote in her request to council.
“Written submissions are accepted until the public hearing closes, then published in a record of public submissions within the next 24 hours. Council can use the time between the public hearing and subsequent readings to review material.”
During the virtual council meeting, Hyde said the reason for the proposed change was to improve efficiency, giving council the option to consider second and third bylaw readings on the same day. Hyde also noted some municipal councils in Alberta have even longer deadlines for submissions, sometimes a week or two prior to the public hearing.
“In all the time I’ve worked here, it is common practice to submit at the very last minute,” Hyde said during the virtual meeting.
The municipal clerk explained the current practice sometimes results in delays for bylaw approvals, particularly for more straightforward Land Use Bylaw amendments, and for amendments triggered by applications submitted by property owners.
“It can also cause confusion about whether council should continue receiving submissions after the hearing is over and how these submissions should be recorded. To alleviate concerns, administration has started scheduling subsequent bylaw readings on the same day as public hearings,” Hyde wrote.
When written submissions are handed in right before a public hearing, it makes it difficult for council to review when received shortly before or during the hearing, Hyde noted.
Councillor Vi Sandford brought up the public hearing earlier in the day, commenting how council received written submissions five minutes before the meeting, making it hard to thoroughly go over and consider.
“So if we had the weekend to see public submissions [then] they’re given enough time to give the public submission but we’re given enough time to review it as well,” Sandford said, to which Hyde noted was the goal.
Councillor Joanna McCallum asked what options there were to remind people who do not have social media about the deadline, to which Hyde explained, all public hearings are advertised three weeks in a row in advance and noted council agendas are also published consistently on the Thursday prior to the monthly Tuesday council meetings.
Mayor John Borrowman said he thought it was important to get public submissions ahead of public hearings and Coun. McCallum agreed, noting the more advance time council receives a submission, the more time council can have a thoughtful look and formulate questions.
With the new change, written submissions received after the deadline will be acknowledged and forwarded to Council for information but will not be added to the record of public submissions, administration said.
“However, we will accept written submissions provided by anyone making verbal submissions at the hearing, whether in person or electronically, and add these documents to the record after the council meeting adjourns. The names of these people will be acknowledged by the municipal clerk during the hearing,” Hyde said.
Adminstation also noted if council feels they do not have time to adequately review submission, council always has the option to call a recess after a public hearing or postpone second and third readings of the bylaw to the next council meeting.
During the vote to approve the change, it had initially appeared Councillor Rob Seeley opposed the motion but turned out to be a glitch in the Zoom call as his computer screen was frozen. When council recounted the vote, it was unanimously approved.
