The council granted a first reading to Bylaw 1856/2022 authorizing the preparation of a supplementary assessment for 2022 for the purpose of imposing a tax.
The town has had a supplementary tax bylaw in place since the early 2000s except the last two year due to the pandemic.
A supplementary tax allows a municipality to collect property taxes on improvements completed or substantially completed, each year.
The town’s 2022 budget includes an estimated $40,000 to be raised in municipal property taxes from the supplementary tax.
Borrowing Bylaw
The council granted a first reading to Bylaw 1854/2022 authorizing the use of an operating line of credit to assist the finance department with managing cash flows for the organization.
The town in recent years has invested heavily in growth infrastructure, states the agenda. It can take up to 25 years to recover these costs through development levies as new construction is added to the assessment base, added the agenda.
A line of credit of up to $6 million has been offered by the town’s banking institution at prime minus 0.75 per cent.
Parks and open spaces bylaw
The town council granted a first reading of Bylaw 1852/2022 to amend the Parks and Open Spaces Bylaw 1477/2008.
Over the last several years, emerging trends in recreation, technology and environmental protection have influenced how visitors and residents utilize park space, shared the Parks and Protective Services department during the council meeting.
Suggested amendments to the existing bylaw include expanding on the definitions and interpretation, structure and content review, alignment with relevant town bylaws, identification of emerging trends and challenges and review of specified penalties.
The proposed amendments to the bylaw have been identified to adequately reflect recreational demands, resident/visitor safety, environmental stewardship and current operational requirements.
Transportation Master Plan
The council accepted and adopted the “Sylvan Lake 2022 Transportation Master Plan (TMP)” recently completed by ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd.
The TMP is a planning tool to provide a framework to assess the capability of the road network to accommodate new development in the short and long term, states the agenda. The plan looks at transportational needs in the next 25 years with a total cost of $128 million for all projects.
Some of the town’s more significant transportation networks consists of five railway crossings, two Alberta Transportation highways running through the town (Highway 20 and Highway 11A) and another running along the south border (Highway 11), five roundabouts within town, 10 intersection with traffic signals, and approximately 20.8 km of arterial roads.
No immediate improvements are required to support the existing roadway network and railway crossings.
Within the five-year horizon, the project aims to build single lane roundabouts at Memorial Trail and 50 St. and at Memorial Trail and Highway 20.
The plan also looks at an upgrade of 47 Ave. to an arterial roadway from Charles Industrial Way to Range Road 12, among other longer-term projects.
Mobile vending and busking
The council granted a third reading of the Mobile Vending and Busking Bylaw 1853/2022 to replace the Mobile Vending and Busking Bylaw 1828/2021.
The Recreation, Culture and Tourism department will take over the Mobile Vending and Busking Program from Business Licensing and work to enhance the program with more arts and cultural programming to take place during Food Truck Thursday.