Temporary recycling secured
Village to clean up old site as Rowe's Recycling re-opens
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 5, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Temporary recycling services have been secured for Fort Simpson after the village council agreed on May 2 to approve a development permit for Rowe's Recycling to operate on a plot of land next to the liquor store.
Gordon Thompson, left, and Troy Hardisty work at the temporary recycling spot in town. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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The temporary location opened April 26 and 28 in time for youth attending a soccer tournament in Grande Prairie to drop off recycling as part of their fundraising efforts.
Rowe said he decided to put up the temporary site after receiving 400 calls from community members about recycling over a three-week period.
Recycling will continue at that location until a permanent location is secured. During the meeting, owner Pat Rowe said recycling would move to a new location on or before June 30 at the latest.
"We're trying to get out of there every day," he assured council.
The decision to approve the development permit followed on the heels of a presentation from Rowe questioning the village's decision to require a development permit for the temporary location - a plot of land that already belonged to Rowe and was zoned village commercial.
Senior administrative officer Beth Jumbo said a recycling depot did not quite fit the land zoning. Under the village's current zoning bylaw, recycling depots fall under light industrial zoning.
However, council agreed to allow the depot to open. Village commercial zoning includes a provision for any use councillors deem to be "of a similar nature."
Currently, the depot is being run out of a 53-foot tri-axle trailer. No permanent buildings will be put up.
But Rowe questioned why he needed a development permit in the first place.
He pointed out examples throughout the village of temporary businesses going up, such as summer peddlers and seafood sellers like Dennis the Seafood Guy.
"Are we getting that serious in this town, that that's (the) direction we want to go?" he said.
"I paid ($100) the other day (for this permit), for something I have no idea what I paid for.
"I see council erring, in this case, quite bad."
Jumbo said the development bylaw defines a development as "changing the intensity of the land."
"That would be a development of any sort," she explained.
"As soon as you take a trailer and put it on a property, because it was vacant ... that changes the intensity of the land. That's why we require a development permit."
She said because the village's zoning bylaw does not include reference to temporary use of a property, the village's legal advisors determined development permits should be required.
She added councillors can review the bylaw in the future and make changes.
Coun. Cheryl Cli questioned the wording of the bylaw, noting the word "intensity" is vague.
Coun. Bob Hanna described the requirement for a development permit as "ludicrous."
"The key word here is temporary. We're not developing (anything)," he said.
Hanna has spoken out against temporary development permits in the past, and on July 6 of last year, said he felt such permits would be pointless.
Pat Rowe's son, Mike Rowe, was elected to the village council in January.
Rowe told councillors on April 18 he felt he could participate in the discussion around Rowe's Recycling without needing to declare a conflict of interest.
On May 2, he told Deh Cho Drum he felt he could make an informed and impartial decision regardless of familial relations.
"I was elected to do my best for the community," he said.
Old recycling site to be cleaned up
Jumbo told Deh Cho Drum the village has plans to clean up the old recycling site.
Currently, that site is littered with scrap metal and old cars.
There is no set schedule for how the cleanup will proceed.
Jumbo said village employees would work on the site as time permits.
She added the village will be putting out a request for proposals for a contractor to crush, bale and stack the scrap metal at the landfill, which includes the metal at the old recycling site.
