Regular Council Meeting - April 22, 2024

Did you miss Monday’s Council meeting? See below for a summary of the main items on the agenda. 

• Council received a presentation in the Committee of the Whole from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society with respect to their grant program, which Prince Rupert has been solicited to apply for and was the subject of a staff report in the Regular meeting agenda. 
• Council voted to award the contract for 6^th Avenue Bridge repairs to Surespan Construction, which was the lowest compliant bid for the project. Now that the contract has been awarded, the contractor will begin with ordering parts and construction will begin as soon as possible next month.  
• Council approved the proposed City Health Care Improvement Strategy – with a key element of the strategy being to request that Northern Health pivot the mandate of the Healthy Community Committee (HCC) to pivot from addressing a broad range of local issues to focusing on doctor recruitment and retention, as well as additional actions that the City can take to support public information sharing and overall recruitment and retention efforts in the health care sector. More information on that strategy is included in the agenda package for the meeting. 
• Given the importance of Prince Rupert to the history of Japanese Canadians in BC, JCLS approached the City with the opportunity for a bigger project, with previous approval granted for a grant request of up to $50,000. As a result, Council received a report from staff requesting an increased scope to the City’s application for funding to install a memorial project to Japanese Canadians with a request to approve an application for up to $400,000 to install a covered memorial structure and interpretive signage in Mariners Park. Two sites were approved during the meeting, with a request from Council to have staff return with additional information on one site, which proposed to use the opportunity to remove and replacing the failing walls dedicated to those lost at sea, pending secured funding. If no funding is available for the removal and replacement of the existing Mariners Memorial wall, the project would proceed on the secondary site in Mariners Park in an adjacent area. 
• Council approved a Development Variance Permit for 2051 Seal Cove Circle.
• Council approved a ten year Revitalization Tax Exemption Agreement for the new ILWU Local 505 Hall located at 847-855 1^st Avenue West. 
• Council approved several remedial action orders for a number of properties in the community including – 333 3^rd Avenue West, 337 3^rd Avenue West, 240 6^th Avenue West, 200 3^rd Avenue West, 711 5^th Avenue East, 728 Lotbiniere Street, 1040 2^nd Avenue West, and 1614 Sloan Avenue. Remedial action orders are processes the City can take to clean and remediate properties where buildings present hazard or nuisance to the community, with specific processes laid out in the Community Charter. Once Council has approved an order and a notice has been sent, the property owner has a set period of time to request a reconsideration notice, at which time Council can decide whether to proceed with building removal. Updates on these orders will be provided at a future meeting of Council.
• Council amended a Liquor License Permit approval for Port City Spirits to include specific occupancy information from the City’s endorsement of the application.