Town of Taber council briefs from Jan. 29

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Delegation suggests changes to local noise bylaw

 At the Jan. 29 town council meeting, Taber resident Grant Angus presented a request to council to amend the Community Standards Bylaw 15-2018. He outlined his proposed amendments to the noise section of the bylaw to include permitted working hours for construction.

 The agenda noted that administration discussed the proposal with police Chief Chief Graham Abela, “who indicated that following a review of the number of noise complaints that TPS has received, they would not suggest a change as requested. Chief Abela indicated that in the past year they have received 40 noise complaints, and only two of those complaints were associated with construction.”

 In his presentation to council, Angus said, “I ran across some bylaws, just in general, with regards to a couple things that were going on in the neighborhood. And I noticed that the noise bylaw didn’t really differentiate between construction and noise. There was kind of an overlapping bunch of words that kind of threw it together, and all I did was I just took it and I just differentiated the two of them, separating the noise bylaw from construction bylaw.”

Angus said he thought the construction bylaw needed more work with more commercial construction on the way. He said the noise bylaw allowed construction companies to get deliveries, work, and run machinery from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. — and in some instances all night long.

 “So I think it needs to be broken down a little bit further, and you guys can figure that one out a little bit more if need be,” he said. “But basically, construction hours that I just thought would be a better way to do it would be from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. so that people kids down and getting ready for work for the next day can get to bed at a reasonably good time.”

 He proposed no company or workers be on a construction site during the quiet hours of 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. “It’s really annoying when someone’s got their heaters going at one-thirty in the morning and they’re getting concrete deliveries at 5:30 a.m.,” he said.

 He also recommended no construction work after 5 p.m. on Saturdays until 7 a.m. on Mondays. That would mean no construction work of any kind on Sundays. “I think it should be a day of quiet. That’s me, though. I think that that’s what I’ve had to deal with in the past. And I just think it’s fair to the people of the community, right?”

 Council reserved any immediate judgement, with little in the way of discussion or comments.

 Coun. Sorensen simply thanked him for his presentation, saying, “I think it’s a valid concern that you brought forward, and I appreciate you bringing it to council so that we can look at this, review it, and make necessary changes as we see fit.”

Board appointments

 On Jan 29, town council appointed Coun. Sparks as a voting member of the Taber Safe Haven Women’s Shelter board. The Times previously reported that Safe Haven had asked for a council member to join its board, but council was reluctant to do so unless that council member would be a voting member. No member of council seemed inclined to join a board in which they would be a non-voting onlooker.

 Town administration relayed council’s concerns to the president of the Safe Haven board, and while discussing solutions, the president advised that a board member with a voting position had stepped down. That vacancy was offered to a council member, accepted upon council resolution, and will now be filled by Sparks.

 Similarly, council appointed Coun. Antoniuk to the STAR board as a voting member. STAR, the Society for Taber Arts and Recreation, asked for a member of council to join its board as a voting member for meetings held on the third Wednesday evening of each month.

 Antoniuk seemed keen on filling the role, saying, “I’m over on the Arts and Heritage Committee, and it hasn’t really had much action. I figured that it would be a natural fit for me unless someone else wanted it.”

 Council approved the motion that he be appointed.