Councillors back away from earlier stance after complaints

By Brooke Larsen - The Now Coquitlam Staff Reporter

Growls from residents have Coquitlam council stepping back from bylaw changes designed to protect bears. Council voted unanimously Monday to defer changes to its garbage bylaw, a week after giving the same changes preliminary approval at a committee meeting.

According to a staff report, the bylaw would forbid residents from putting garbage out before 5 a.m. on collection day.

Several councillors spoke Monday of angry calls and e-mails from residents, and some assured the public that the bylaw would be enforced only in bear-prone neighbourhoods.

“I want to assure every resident that the intent is that we show some common sense. This isn’t meant to apply in areas where we don’t have a bear problem,” Coun. Richard Stewart said. “We’re trying to keep the picnic basket away from Yogi and it’s for our own sake, as well as for the bears’ sake.”

“I have had many phone calls on this _ I certainly had some of the most I’ve [ever] had on this issue,” Coun. Fin Donnelly said.

“I think this can be tweaked. I think there’s some areas that we can improve on,” he said, adding that he would like to see a provincial representative involved in future discussions of the bylaw amendment.

Coun. Lou Sekora said there isn’t public support for the change and took issue with the proposed $500 minimum fine for violations.

“When I get 50 e-mails a day on this one item, it tells me only one thing - that we are not listening to the general public in this community.

“A $500 fine? Why not make it a six-month jail term?” Sekora asked.

But Coun. Mae Reid said some residents won’t follow the bylaw unless there’s a hefty fine.

“Here we are again at the council, wrestling with all these silly rules and silly fines that we have to do, and it’s mostly for the small percentage of people that really don’t give a darn,” Reid said. “I was in favour of the $500 [fine], and I still am.”

Mayor Maxine Wilson said more research is needed on when garbage should be set out, since some residents have complained that their garbage is being picked up before 7 a.m.

“To do nothing, and to leave things as they currently are is not really an option because we are invading, and we’ll be doing it more when we develop the northeast,” Wilson said.

“If we do nothing, and leave things the way they are now, we’re leading to a likely situation where there could be property damage or _ even worse, human injury or death.”

If approved, the bylaw change would allow city inspectors to ask residents in bear-prone neighbourhoods to use special bear-proof garbage cans if problems arise.

It would also ban the use of bird feeders - another bear attractant - between May 1 and Nov. 1 of each year.

Earlier in the meeting, Ken Wright, the city’s general manager of engineering and public works, said the proposed bylaw change would only be enforced in areas that have bear problems.

“The bylaw encompasses all of Coquitlam, however, we will only be concentrating on the areas where we have proven bear sightings,” he said. “Certainly, we will not be issuing tickets or even speaking to people in Maillardville, for example, when there haven’t been any bear sightings in Maillardville.”

Wright also said residents in problem areas who violate the proposed bylaw will receive at least two notices before they are fined.

“It’s very much a dialogue and, hopefully, we can work together to resolve this issue without having to fine people,” Wright said.

During the past year, there have been 400 calls to the Coquitlam Bear Aware line; roughly 80 per cent from the Westwood Plateau.

“There have been significant increases in bear sightings. In 2002 there were 98 and in 2005 [there were] 1,060,” Wright said.

Last year, the city hired two Bear Aware co-ordinators to educate residents about ways to reduce conflict with bears.

published on 06/21/2006