Community Standards Appeal Board Bylaw #31.24

Drumheller, Alberta

This is the exact embedded text of the captured official document. Snapshot a06966af4679 · verified 2026-06-08 · original document · archived snapshot · unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.

TOWN OF DRUMHELLER BYLAW NUMBER 31.24 DEPARTMENT: LEGISLATIVE SERVICES Community Standards Appeal Board Bylaw A BYLAW TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMUNITY STANDARDS APPEAL BOARD WHEREAS, section 8 of the Municipal Government Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. M-26, allows for Council to, in a bylaw, provide for an appeal, the body that is to decide the appeal, and related matter; AND WHEREAS, section 145 of the Municipal Government Act, provides that a Council may pass bylaws in relation to the establishment and functions of Council Committees, and the procedure and conduct of Council Committees; AND WHEREAS, section 203 of the Municipal Government Act authorizes a Council to delegate its powers, duties or functions to a Council Committee, including its duty to decide appeals imposed on it by this or another enactment or bylaw; AND WHEREAS pursuant to section 19 of the Weed Control Act, S.A. 2008, c. W-5.1, Council must establish an independent appeal panel to determine appeals of notices issued pursuant to that Act; AND WHEREAS pursuant to section 14 of the Agricultural Pests Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. A-8, Council must appoint a committee to hear and determine appeals of notices issued pursuant to that Act; AND WHEREAS Council wishes to establish a single council committee to review appeals pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, the Weed Control Act, the Agricultural Pests Act, and all other appeals permitted by a bylaw of the Town of Drumheller; NOW THEREFORE the Council of the Town of Drumheller enacts the following: 1. SHORT NAME 1.1 This Bylaw shall be cited as the "Community Standards Appeal Board Bylaw". 2. DEFINITIONS 2.1 For the purposes of the Bylaw, the following definitions shall apply: a) "Agricultural Pests Act" means the Agricultural Pests Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. A-8, as amended from time to time, and its successor legislation. b) "Applicant" means a person who is seeking an appeal pursuant to this Bylaw; c) "Application" or "Notice of Appeal" means a submission to the Town of Drumheller for a review by the Community Standards Appeal Board; d) "Chief Administrative Officer'' or "CAO" means the Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Drumheller Bylaw 31.24 Page 2 of 6 Town of Drumheller, or their designates; e) "Community Standards Appeal Board" or "Board" means the Community Standards Appeal Board as established by this Bylaw; f) "Council & Committee Meeting Procedure Bylaw" means the Council & Committee Meeting Procedure Bylaw #04.21, as amended from time to time, and its successor legislation; g) "Municipal Government Act" or "MGA" means the Municipal Government Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. M-26, as amended from time to time, and its successor legislation; h) "Order" means a written order identifying a contravention of a bylaw, stipulating the actions that the person shall take to remedy the contravention; i) "Panel" means a three (3) person committee established from members of the Community Standards Appeal Board for the purposes of hearing an appeal; j) "Parties" means the Applicant, the Respondent and the members of the panel; k) "Person" means a natural person or a corporation and includes a partnership, an association, or a group of persons acting in concert unless the context explicitly or by necessary implication otherwise requires; l) "Respondent" means the person responsible for responding to the claims of the Applicant on behalf of the Town of Drumheller Administration; m) "Successful Appeal" means an appeal where: (i) The order is cancelled in its entirety; or (ii) The order is varied or substituted based on the arguments made by the applicant. n) "Town" means the Town of Drumheller, a municipal corporation in the Province of Alberta, and includes the area contained within the corporate boundaries of the Town of Drumheller, as the context may require; o) "Weed Control Act" means the Weed Control Act, S.A. 2008, c. W-5.1, as amended from time to time, and its successor legislation. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS APPEAL BOARD 3.1 The Community Standards Appeal Board is hereby established as a committee of Council and shall operate in accordance with the Council & Committee Meeting Procedure Bylaw. 3.2 The Board shall have the jurisdiction to hear and make decisions on: a) appeals of orders pursuant to section 545 and 546 of the MGA; b) weed notice appeals, pursuant to the Weed Control Act; Town of Drumheller Bylaw 31.24 Page 3 of 6 c) agricultural pest notice appeals, pursuant to the Agricultural Pests Act; and d) All other appeals as set out in any other bylaw of the Town, that authorizes an appeal to the Board. 3.3 The Board shall consist of all seven (7) members of Council who shall be appointed by resolution pursuant to the Council & Committee Meeting Procedure Bylaw. 3.4 In the event of an appeal hearing, three (3) of the members of the Board shall be appointed by the Chief Administrative Officer to sit on the panel, which shall constitute a quorum; 3.5 A panel may perform the same functions as the Board, and a decision of a panel is deemed to be a decision of the Board. 3.6 The panel must elect one (1) presiding officer who has all of the powers and responsibilities of a chairperson for dealing with the matter which the panel was formed to address. 3.7 The Community Standards Appeal Board Clerk shall be appointed by the CAO and is responsible for: a) receiving all applications and application deposits; b) determining the sufficiency of applications; including whether the application was received within the prescribed time period; c) scheduling hearings and sending notices of hearings to the parties; d) answering the inquiries and providing information to the parties and the general public; e) circulating all hearing material to the parties at least one (1) business day prior to the hearing; f) recording the minutes of the hearing; g) keeping a written record of all panel hearings, including: (i) the application; (ii) the notice of hearing; (iii) all records submitted as evidence for the hearing; (iv) the minutes of the hearing; and (v) the panel's decision and the accompanying reasoning for the decision. Town of Drumheller Bylaw 31.24 Page 4 of 6 4. APPLICATION 4.1 All applications pursuant to this Bylaw must submit the request in writing to the Chief Administrative Officer within fifteen (15) days of receiving the written order or decision, and must include the following: a) the applicant's full name, address, email and phone number; b) a copy of the order or decision that is the subject of the application; c) the grounds for the appeal; d) a $250.00 fee for each application for appeal, unless otherwise stated in this Bylaw; and e) if applicable, the land to which the appeal relates. 4.2 The Community Standards Appeal Board Clerk will be responsible for determining the sufficiency of applications; including whether the application was received within the prescribed time period. 4.3 If the Clerk determines the application is insufficient, the Clerk must either: a) request the applicant correct the deficiencies within a specified time period; or b) deny the application, if the application was not recevied within the prescribed time period. 4.4 The applicant fee shall not be waived under any circumstances and shall not be refunded unless: a) the applicant's appeal is determined to be a successful appeal, as per the decision of the panel; or b) the application is deemed to be insufficient, as per the decision of the Clerk. 5. SCHEDULING A HEARING 5.1 If the application is deemed sufficient, the Clerk shall schedule a hearing within thirty (30) days after receiving the application in its complete form, and shall send written notice via email to the parties that contains the following information: a) The date, time and location of the hearing; and b) The deadline for the parties to submit any written materials and evidence that they wish for the Board to consider at the hearing, which shall be three (3) business days prior to the hearing date. 5.2 Upon mututal consent of both the panel and the applicant, the hearing date can be rescheduled to a date greater than thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of the application. 5.3 Where the parties fail to comply with the deadline established by the Clerk for submission of Town of Drumheller Bylaw 31.24 Page 5 of 6 written materials and evidence, the Board shall proceed with the hearing without the acceptance of any written material. 6. HEARING PROCEDURES 6.1 During a hearing, the panel must allow: a) the applicant a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes to speak; b) the respondent fifteen (15) minutes to speak; and c) the applicant and the respondent an additional five (5) minutes each to respond to new information that has been presented. 6.2 The panel may, by majority vote, extend the period of time the applicant and the respondent are allowed to speak or respond to new information. If either person is allowed additional time, their counterpart shall be granted the same amount of additional time. 6.3 The panel may take twenty (20) minutes to deliberate in private following the presentations by both the applicant and respondent, in order to make a decision. 7. HEARING DECISION 7.1 After hearing an application, the Board may confirm, vary, substitute, or cancel the order or decision under review. 7.2 The majority vote of the hearing panel constitutes the decision of the Board. 7.3 The panel will deliver a decision orally to both the applicant and the respondent following deliberation. 7.4 A written statement of the decision and the reasoning behind the decision will be sent via email and registered mail to the applicant within fifteen (15) business days of the decision of the Board; this written decision shall represent the decision served pursuant to Section 548 of the Municipal Government Act, Section 15 of the Agricultural Pests Act and Section 20 of the Weed Control Act. 8. NOTICES 8.1 All general correspondence and notice of the hearing shall be sent via email to the address provided in the email. 8.2 All decisions will be issued in writing and sent via email and by registered mail to the applicant via the addresses provided in the application. 9. AGRICULTURAL PEST NOTICE APPEALS 9.1 Notwithstanding Section 4, applications pursuant to the Agricultural Pests Act must: a) be submitted within the time specified in the notice issued under section 12 of the Agricultural Pests Act for taking any measure, or within ten (10) business days after service of the notice, whichever is less, by any of the methods set out in section 12(3) of the Agricultural Pests Act; and Town of Drumheller Bylaw 31.24 Page 6 of 6 b) include a deposit of $100.00 for each application for appeal. 9.2 Notwithstanding Section 5, hearings pursuant to the Agricultural Pests Act must be scheduled within five (5) business days after receipt of the complete application. 10. WEED CONTROL NOTICE APPEALS 10.1 Notwithstanding Section 4, appeals pursuant to the Weed Control Act must: a) be submitted within the time specified in the notice issued under section 12 of the Weed Control Act for taking any measure, or within ten (10) business days after service of the notice, whichever is less, by any of the methods set out in section 12(3) of the Weed Control Act; b) include a deposit of $500.00 for each application for appeal; and c) If the applicant is partially successful in an appeal or review, the $500.00 appeal fee may be refunded in whole or in part at the sole discretion of the panel or the Minister, as the case may be. 10.2 Notwithstanding Section 5, hearings pursuant to the Weed Control Act must be scheduled within five (5) business days after receipt of the complete application. 11. SEVERABILITY 11.1 If any portion of this Bylaw Is found to be invalid, that portion shall be severed from the remainder of the Bylaw and shall not invalidate the whole Bylaw. 12. TRANSITIONAL 12.1 This Bylaw repeals Bylaw #08.19. 12.2 This Bylaw comes into full force and effect upon third and final reading. READ A FIRST TIME THIS 9th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2024 READ A SECOND TIME THIS 9th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2024 READ A THIRD AND FINAL TIME THIS 9th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2024 The original document, duly signed and executed, is retained on file.