Sylvan Lake Town Councillors on Monday continued their discussion on the proposed regulation of quadracycles and pedicabs in town, with the matter now set to return before them later this year.
Councillors accepted as information a report from administration outlining the implications of imposing such regulations and their interactions with a number of already-existing bylaws. Given the complexity of the situation, bringing forward a new bylaw and making the necessary amendments to existing bylaws in time for the operating season in 2015 would be unlikely, staff noted.
But some councillors felt discussion on the matter has now been ongoing long enough, and expressed disappointment that a bylaw hadn’t yet been drafted.
“This will now be the third motion we’ve brought forward to show support for this, and I’m worried another year will go by,” said Coun. Megan Chernoff. “We made this last summer with the intentions to come forward and be ready to go, and we made another motion earlier this year, and now we’re extending that. I’m not sure what the hold up is.”
Coun. Dale Plante shared Chernoff’s frustration.
“At this point, we still have nothing, and I find that extremely frustrating,” he said.
Coun. Matt Prete suggested looking into interim measures, acknowledging that some businesses could be affected by the current absence of such regulations.
The delay affects current business that’s happening, so that’s an issue,” he said. “I’m just not comfortable necessarily leaving it for this season.”
Councillors eventually conceded the matter would likely have to be looked at in time for next year’s operating season at the earliest, and approved a motion to have a bylaw and necessary amendments brought before them in September.
Coun. Jas Payne noted that safety concerns previously noted by RCMP and Municipal Enforcement with regards to the operation of pedicabs would need to be strongly considered in future discussions around the issue.
“You can’t ignore the folks that we hold responsible to keep us safe,” he said. “Public safety is our issue.”