INNISFAIL - A mother and daughter have lost their bid to keep their soft-sided buildings on their property, structures they have primarily used for more than three years for Indigenous spiritual practices.
Lisa Voelker and her mother Mary were issued an order by a town protective services officer on Aug. 30 to remove their two soft-sided buildings from their 49A Avenue property. They were told the buildings contravened regulations in the Land Use Bylaw, and that they had to be dismantled within 14 days.
Since then the First Nations mother and daughter appealed the order, photographed up to 30 other soft-sided buildings in town and presented their appeal to town council at its regular meeting on Sept. 23. They argued their structures were used primarily for Indigenous spiritual practices, such as smudge ceremonies and drumming. They also argued they have been singled out. Council was presented with their photographs of up to 30 other soft-sided buildings on other properties throughout town.
"I have been driving around a lot, and it made me upset. I look and the same ones are up. No one is taking any of them down," said Lisa, adding in a letter to council the presence of so many other structures still being up and operating "seems discriminatory and selective."
"This enables other citizens to keep this up," said Voelker. "They are being used for extra storage, car shelters, boats, everything. A lot of them I see parking under it."
Gary Leith, the town's manager of fire and protective services, said outside council on Sept. 23 that only two other orders had been handed out to local property owners that their soft-sided buildings had to be dismantled.
Through a staff report and presentation at the appeal hearing council was told the town's current soft-sided building regulations, which are part of the Land Use Bylaw (LUB), were first introduced in September of 2000 following concerns that many slipped into unsightly and dilapitated states.
The regulations define soft-side buildings as those that are faced or finished on any portion of the building exterior with flexible sheeting capable of being rolled or folded. They prohibit the structures if they are intended to be used for any period longer than seven consecutive days.
The restriction does not apply to camping tents, portable dining tents or gazebos with insect screens. Since 2000 there has been no substantive changes to the regulations. The town's prohibitive stance against soft-sided buildings is similar to regulations put in place in Sylvan Lake, Blackfalds and Lacombe.
During the appeal hearing council was told many soft-side building owners were responsible and kept their structures and the immediate area clean and orderly, but Coun. Glen Carritt wondered where council and the town would "draw the line" if the 19-year-old rules were amended and relaxed to allow the structures.
Council ultimately decided to go in-camera to discuss the case privately. When they came back half an hour later Mayor Jim Romane announced the order was valid and that the Voelkers' two soft-sided buildings had to be dismantled by Oct. 31.
"It doesn't surprise me," said Lisa after the verdict was announced. She and her mother said they would not take the appeal further but would talk to town staff about ways they could make them legal, such as having their two buildings recreated with wooden supports.
"These things are very nice when they are new but it isn't too long before they start to look raggedy. I remember at the time it happened (prohibition) people were not tying them down properly, and they were dangerous," said Romane. "I think all of the communities at that time were facing a similar situation. No more, no more."
The mayor said he believes there is little chance council will consider a review of the soft-sided building regulations.
"I just don't think that (regulations) are going to change," he added. "I didn't see any real interest in that on Monday night," he said, adding that with the high number of illegal soft-sided buildings being reported to the town the regulations will have to be enforced. "Right now we have let things go a little too far, which is obvious with the condition that some of them are in. You have the bylaw and enforce it or don't have the bylaw."
Romane said he expects town community peace officers will move quickly on residents that now have illegal soft-sided buildings. "They will be addressing that. They know their job. They know how council feels about the bylaw now and they will be enforcing it, yes."
