Briefs from Creston town council's June 14 meeting:
•Council gave the go-ahead to the Creston Wave Swim Club to allow visiting families to camp on the community complex grounds during a swim meet on June 25-26. Community complex staff have already approved the request, which has been a practice for many years.
•A written request was received from a Canyon Street business to make alterations to the Cook Street parking lot to enable easier access by large delivery trucks in the alley. The owner of Maggie’s Gluten Free Kitchen, Margaret Zsoltaros, requested changes to the curbing and parking spaces to allow large trucks to back up to the former Garden Bakery loading doors to make pickups and deliveries.
A report from Colin Farynowski, director of engineering, presented council with three possible options. Option 1 would remodel some curbs, eliminate 10 parking spaces and involve beefing up the parking lot to take the weight of heavy delivery trucks, with an estimated cost of $69,500. Option 2 would modify some curbs and eliminate two parking spaces, at a cost of about $7,500. Option 3 would be to maintain the status quo.
Farynowski explained that the town is under no obligation to accommodate the access request and one councillor pointed out the parking lot revitalization was completed before Zsoltaros leased the building.
Council instructed the engineer to have further discussions with Zsoltaros and to invite her to speak directly to council about the issue to see if there is a resolution that works for both the town and the business.
•A letter of support will be provided to the District of Kent, which is objecting to the province about the municipal police service agreement with the RCMP, particularly with regard to costs borne by small municipalities.
•Ross Beddoes, building inspector, reported that there were fewer building permit applications than he had anticipated in May, with only a couple for single family residences. The dollar value of permits issued in the month was $7.835 million, however. The bulk of the value was in permits issued for the construction of the Ramada Inn and Conference Centre at Highway 3 and 3A and the arena renovations at Creston and District Community Complex.
•Mayor Ron Toyota was instructed by council to release $9,000 in community development grant funds for heritage murals to be painted on the west side of Pharmasave on 11th Avenue North. A select committee will issue a call for proposals from artists.
•Toyota, who volunteered at Tim Hortons in its recent Camp Day promotion, announced that the local store raised $3,200 for the national campaign.