It was agreed to by all on council … initially … but some Lac La Biche County councilors are now saying they may have signed-off too early on an issue that has many residents losing their quiet reserve.

More than 150 municipal signs were planted over the last two months in several Lac La Biche County subdivisions highlighting the locations of municipal and environmental reserves. The sign placements, their costs and the reasoning have many residents living near the municipal or environmentally-designated land complaining.

“It was my fault for voting ‘yes’ to this without seeing a plan as to what it would look like,”                — Lac La Biche County councillor Charlyn Moore

A $40,000 budget line was added to the 2020 municipal budget earlier in the year to pay for the implementation of the signs — with unanimous approval by council. But after public hearings that drew dozens from concerned residents wanting to know more about restrictions to adjacent property, phone calls to councillors, and the municipal complaint line, some on council are having an about-face.

“It was my fault for voting ‘yes’ to this without seeing a plan as to what it would look like,” said Young’s Beach and Holowachuk Estates councillor Charlyn Moore after looking at updated information she had requested from municipal administrators that the showed the location and a cost breakdown for the signage.

The map shows 150 signs in locations at Young’s Beach, Holowachuk Estates and Sunset Bay. More signs are scheduled to be set up in the Fork Lake area and Lakeview Estates.

After looking at the map, which shows red and green dots representing municipal and environmental signs, and after taking her own tour of  the areas as she heard from area residents, Moore said she made a mistake.

“If I had seen this map, I wouldn’t have voted ‘Yes,’ she said at a recent council meeting, explaining that she had been to areas where up to 10 signs were placed on a piece of land less than 50 feet long, and other lakeshore properties were lined with the signs.

“To me, they don’t look like they are welcoming … I understand we passed this, but some just look like overkill.”

Other council members expressed issues with some sign placements, most saying they were messy.

“We did vote unanimously for this project, but they are littered across our neighbourhoods and that many just seems unnecessary,” said Hylo area councillor George L’Heureux, adding that the signs don’t tell resident much about the issue. “Nobody knows what the rules are — but we are intimidating them by putting the signs everywhere.”

Deputy Mayor Lorin Tkachuk noted that one of the signs was actually placed “in a forest,” but otherwise he was OK with the project.

Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi stood by council’s initial decision, saying the placement of the signs is more of an operations issue and not something council should be weighing into.

“Every time administration brings us something I’m not going to micro-manage it. We are in governance,” he said.

Plamondon – area councillor Colette Borgun agreed, saying she was more concerned with council’s discussion on the placement of the signs than the reason for the signs themselves.

“I’m kind of concerned why this is a discussion at all. We told administration what to do. Why are we analyzing this to death?”

Moore was quick to answer that question.

“Why are we having these conversations? Are you getting 13 calls a week about it?  I am,” she said back to Borgun. “And that’s why we are talking about it.”

Owners have taken care of land

The issue of the environmental and municipal reserves is part of planned changes to existing land use bylaws that will lay out proper uses for land that has environmental or municipal significance. Those changes are expected to affect how adjacent landowners and the public will use the lands.  Many property owners whose land is adjacent to the reserves take care of the land, maintaining it. If new bylaws are passed, that access may be restricted. Since the discussions began more than six months ago, councilors have been quick to point out that any restrictions on environmental reserves come primarily from the provincial government’s Environmental Protection department.

Council is continuing to discuss the bylaw changes that will affect the municipal and environmental reserves. More public consultation is expected before any plans are finalized.

Some good news regarding the signage issue was the costing.

While the project was budgeted for $40,000, only $21,000 has been spent with the signs costing about $9,000 and $13,000 paid to the contracted company that placed the signs.

“So it’s looking like we are coming in under budget,” said Lac La Biche County senior manager of Planning and Economic Development Clayton Kittlitz.