Municipal Council Wrestles With Issues of Land Access and Risk Mitigation

Fire protection concerns started off the February meeting of the North Cypress-Langford Municipal Council. Fire is a constant issue in rural and forested areas, particularly those that have seen as much drought as Western Manitoba these past couple of years, but it’s of particular note here because of the proximity of new residential subdivisions to a Provincial Park. Council is looking at erecting new signage to ensure residents are informed about fire prevention, and the permits and regulations that apply to them.

The public hearings that were put before Council by the Cypress Planning District were largely routine and saw no opposition, but a request by the Westman ATV Club to open up a municipal right of way to an existing trail on Crown land saw a lot of concern and discussion. A lot of landowners in that area are not in favour of the agreement, largely because they’ve had bad experiences with ATVs in the past that have damaged land and distressed livestock. Council was torn between concerns about the trail and a desire to work with an ATV Club that was going through proper channels to develop a trail rather than accessing land without permissions.

Council heard a presentation about installing monitoring technology in their municipal equipment and vehicles to be able to track progress on things such as grading of roads, snow removal or spraying. Because of the size of the municipality, these vehicles usually work solo and in remote areas. As well as Council gathering data on the needs of their municipality, many residents could also benefit from information such as what roads are passable or when they can expect them to be.

An offer to purchase some lots owned by the municipality was received. The offer was not enough to cover the real estate costs associated with transferring the land, however in addition to that, Council believed that the lots in question housed a cairn of historical value. Council determined to find out whether or not those lots were saleable, and if they were, then to look into listing them publicly.

Other issues before Council included some staffing changes; support for widening an approach to allow for safe passage by semi-trailers; codifying wage increases for non-union employees; requests for budget items; several pieces of correspondence; and reviewing some lingering bylaw issues stemming from the amalgamation of the municipalities of North Cypress and Langford in 2014.

While we have covered issues before the North Cypress-Langford Municipal Council before, this is our first opportunity to film end-to-end coverage of the council meeting.