Briefs from the March 13 Creston town council meeting:
•Creston’s three minor hockey teams (midget, peewee Chiefs, peewee Bruins) that qualified for provincial championship playoffs will each receive $300 from the town to help with travel and accommodation expenses. The donations will come from the community development fund, which is nearly depleted for this fiscal year.
•A staff member will attend a conference in Cranbrook about the challenges of urban wildlife.
•The donation of a Town of Creston travel bag for the Creston Rotary Club’s radio and Internet auction fundraiser was approved.
•New Creston resident Karen Unruh was the only applicant to fill a vacancy on the board of variance. She was appointed to the unpaid position for a term ending on Dec. 31, 2014. Unruh served three terms on the Fort Nelson town council and has experience on hospital boards and as a minor sports organization executive.
•Little construction activity has taken place to start the year and only one new building permit was issued in February, building inspector Ross Beddoes reported. The building permit was for construction of a multi-tenant commercial retail building on the Ramada Inn and conference centre site.
•A development variance permit application for a residence at 2411 Birch Street will proceed with the required public notice to vary the side yard setback from 1.5 metres (five feet) to 1.1 metres (3.6 feet).
•A second round of lengthy discussions about a proposed new fire service bylaw ended with approval of a second reading, which means it must be discussed at two more meetings before it can be enacted.