Banff residents hoping for a plebiscite to vote on quashing paid parking will have to sit out a waiting period.
At a Monday (July 21) council meeting, Banff Residents Against Paid Parking assured council they have 1,370 names on a petition against paid parking in town.
As of Wednesday (July 23), Town CAO Robert Earl said he had yet to receive the petition.
Once in his hand, though, and he said he assumes wording will relate to reversing decisions on parking made at a June 9 meeting, he will process the petition to clarify that those who signed are electors, names and addresses will be checked and witnesses confirmed.
“That will take about 30 days,” said Earl. “If it’s sufficient, it will go to council and they will have some choices. They could do what the petition says and enact a bylaw, that would take 60 days to process. It would be 30 days for first reading and another 30 for final reading.
“The other choice would be to have a vote of electors within 90 days. Council will, I presume, consider both.”
Also on Wednesday, Mayor Karen Sorensen, having digested everything that took place at the raucous council meeting, said, “The best way to avoid criticism is to do nothing.
“But I want to re-state that this council is committed to looking at solutions to a number of challenges in the community. Not just parking, but housing and other issues.
“We are committed to working toward solutions. We’re going to trial some of those and keep moving forward on challenges.”
