City council has approved updates to a bylaw that governs and regulates the construction of private crossings near commercial, industrial and residential properties.
During its Dec. 12 regular meeting, council gave three unanimous readings to Bylaw No. 5677, Private Crossing Bylaw, 2022, which repeals Bylaw No. 4425, The Boulevard Crossing Bylaw: A bylaw of the City of Moose Jaw to provide for the construction of private crossings and the regulating and control of same, 1986.
The new bylaw goes into effect immediately because there were no opposing votes from council.
The new bylaw reflects current standards and practices, improves clarity and consistency and aligns with other municipal bylaws and policies like The Traffic Bylaw and The Boulevard Bylaw, according to a council report.
Some of the proposed changes include the following:
- Renaming the bylaw to something less cumbersome
- Council no longer needs to approve any private crossing permits, such as for driveways on Main Street or commercial/industrial driveways. Instead, the director of engineering services — and, where applicable, the directors of parks and recreation and planning and development — would authorize the permits
- Creating a new private crossing permit form that gives applicants more details of the technical construction or measurements and sight-line requirements for the crossing requested. Applicants would also be made aware of their obligations before applying and paying for the private crossing
- Increasing the permit fee to $100 from $5. The increase would recover employee wages for the administrative and field work needed to process the applications
- Making applicants aware that they cannot remove a tree from a private crossing
- Factoring in the different-sized property lots
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Jan. 9, 2023.
