Council Highlights October 5 2020

Kent Snyder, General Manager of Planning and Development Services, and Robert Sissons, Superintendent of Planning-Policy, presented a summary of the Municipal Development Plan to Council. A Municipal Government Act requirement, the myMH Master Plan defines the long-range vision for growth and establishes community goals for the City of Medicine Hat.

Following a public hearing on the Brownfield Tax Incentive Agreement for 110, 1380 22 Street SE, City Council approved an agreement to provide a partial tax exemption to the property owner. The owner has submitted a request for exemption based on the Brownfield Tax Incentive, which allows for multi-year tax exemptions on commercial or industrial property (other than designated industrial property) that is all of the following:

1. contaminated or possibly contaminated,
2. vacant, derelict or under-utilized; and
3. suitable for development or redevelopment for the general benefit of the municipality when a brownfield agreement is entered into or a brownfield bylaw is passed.

Incentivizing brownfield property redevelopment encourages community revitalization and environmental remediation efforts. The owner intends to develop a car wash on the property.

Following a public hearing, City Council passed 2^nd and 3^rd reading of Bylaw #4636, A Bylaw of the City of Medicine Hat to adopt a Municipal Development Plan as amended. The plan was amended to remove the designation of future residential development of a portion of lands currently leased by the Stampede Board. The myMH Master Plan strives to create a pragmatic approach to city building within a mid-sized community context while balancing the triple bottom line approach of the financial, environmental, and social demands. View the full myMh Master Plan here.

For information, City Council received the minutes of the September 22 Administrative and Legislative Review Committee meeting. 

Through Energy and Utilities Committee, City Council received for information an introduction to the new Environmental Utilities General Manager, Mr. Pat Bohan. Mr. Bohan has over 25 years of experience collaborating on the development of new business models, technologies and creative solutions as well as an exceptional history of progressive leadership across a spectrum of diverse sophisticated corporations.

Through Corporate Services Committee, City Council:

• Adopted the amended Health and Safety Policy which will be entitled ‘Health, Safety and Environmental Policy 8002’;
• Repealed Environmental Policy 0148; and
• Received for information the Procedures to Health, Safety and Environmental Policy 8002 as approved by the Administrative Committee.

Through Administrative Committee, Council approved the five capital projects submitted to the Municipal Stimulus Program. The spending of project expenditures is contingent upon the receipt of the Municipal Stimulus Program grant, which has no City matching requirement. If approved through the provincial program, $7,519,659 will support the following projects.

• Gas City Campground – Campsite Enhancements   $1,319,659
• Multi-Use Trail Development/Extension                     $1,700,000
• Multi-Court Pickleball Facility                                     $2,000,000
• Town Square                                                              $2,000,000
• BMX Track Upgrades                                                 $500,000

The proposed projects are high value capital works that constitute an additional spend to stimulate the economy through job growth and red tape reduction, with no future burden on the tax rates (as per the grant criteria). Additional criteria were in place and were carefully followed in the selection of projects for submission, including the stipulation that all projects be complete by December 31, 2021.

Through Administrative Committee, City Council approved the Intermunicipal Committee Terms of Reference. The City of Medicine Hat, Cypress County and Town of Redcliff Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) /Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) Steering Committee are recommending an amended Terms of Reference (TOR) to reflect a shift in focus from preparing the ICF and IDP to more operational functions (implementation).

City Council received for information the minutes of the September 8 Heritage Resources Committee meeting.

City Council received for information the minutes of the September 17 Police Commission meeting.

City Council approved 2^nd and 3^rd reading of Bylaw #4627, a Bylaw of the City of Medicine Hat to incur indebtedness in the amount $80,000,000 for the purpose of 2020 NGPR Abandonment & Reclamation (A&R) Program. First reading of the bylaw was given on April 20, 2020. The City of Medicine Hat, being an oil and gas operator, is required by law to operate according to the Oil and Gas Conservation Act that is enforced and administered by the provincial regulator. The City, as a responsible operator, is therefore committed to properly retiring assets in an environmentally responsible manner. The A&R program ensures the City is fostering the wellbeing of the environment by safely meeting end of life obligations for its energy development activities. The City is opting to incur debt to finance a portion of the obligation, as the cost to borrow the funds is lower than the expected return on investment on the reserves currently dedicated to A&R.

A new item, Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP): Grant for Capital Projects, was added under new business. The City of Medicine Hat currently has access to $13.4 million in federal funding under the ICIP Public Transit Stream to support public transit infrastructure projects. Under this existing stream, the federal government funds 40-50 per cent of eligible projects costs, which must be complete by December 31, 2027. The provincial government recently extended an option to municipalities to re-allocate some or all of the funding available under the existing Public Transit Steam to the new COVID-19 Resilience Stream. Under this new stream, the government will fund 80 per cent of eligible project costs. City Council approved the following recommendations, contingent upon Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program funding.

1. Contingent upon ICIP funding approval, approve the following new capital projects and funding sources as follows:
2. Contingent upon ICIP funding approval, for previously approved capital projects approve amendment of the funding sources as follows:
3. Authorize CAO discretionary expenditure approval up to $1,000,000 for design, engineering and other work that will be required to commence in advance of the tendering process in order to expedite project commencement and completion by December 31, 2021.  Funding source is operating until ICIP funding is received, at which time any eligible costs will be capitalized.