Manure amendment to Picture Butte’s land-use bylaw clarified

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Picture Butte’s deputy mayor clarified a few things with a proposed land-use bylaw amendment.

During the Picture Butte and District Chamber of Commerce regular Nov. 9 meeting, coun. Joe Watson sought to clear up some concerns surrounding a recent proposed land-use bylaw amendment on manure, or bylaw 864-17.

“There is a lot of talk about, if you’ve been reading the paper you see we have some bylaw discussions now, and that’s manure and livestock in rural, town areas,” said Watson.

“A lot of people don’t realize that the property we’re talking about is only properties that’s in the boundaries of Picture Butte. That, and a lot of folks don’t realize that, for instance, when you go south of town here, that the town boundaries go quite a bit further south then it states there.”

Noting that he had three calls from concerned farmers worried that the town was trying to cut out their manure spreading, he assured the chamber that they were not “touching any of that”, as the amendment would only be for properties within town limits.

“It only pertains to agriculture-type manure spreading, so you can still go out and put a bag of fertilizer on your lawn or in your garden with no problem.”

The amendment had received first reading during Picture Butte council’s regular Oct. 23 meeting. A public hearing on the bylaw amendment is scheduled to take place on Monday, Nov. 27, at 6:30 p.m. in Picture Butte council chambers.