Residents of Chestermere are often seen out and about enjoying our many parks, green spaces, walk ways and of course, the new beach – which thanks to some gorgeous weather recently, has already seen its fair share of guests.
City staff take great pride in keeping our community clean and looking amazing, but the lack of public compliance to littering and smoking bylaws has them discouraged and our beautiful community not looking so great.
On April 20th, City of Chestermere Parks Staff along with some awesome volunteers met at John Peake Park over the noon hour to join forces to clean up the huge mess that is plaguing the park. From main street, through the parking lot of John Peake Park, from the library parking lot to the boat launch – the cleaning was extensive and it became quite obvious that many that ‘hang out’ in the parking lot are completely ignoring city bylaws and are not cleaning up after themselves.
So, for those that feel there either isn’t a bylaw for this, or know there is but don’t feel they have to comply – here’s the actual truth on the subject.
City of Chestermere Bylaw 009-15 states in part:
“No person shall carry or possess a lit cigarette, cigar, pipe, or burn tobacco or Mu’assel, or electronic smoking device in any manner in, or within 5 meters of:
• Anniversary Park (the beach)
• The bike park (near Rainbow Creek Elementary school)
• Cove Beach
• Dog park (off leash area near library)
• John Peake park (this includes the parking lot)
• Any playground
• Skateboard park (behind the Merganser strip mall)
• Sports field
• Skating rink
• Sunset Beach
• or any spray/water park
Fines for smoking in, on or within 5 metres of any of the above listed will get you minimum fine of $100 of a specified penalty of $200.
Cigarette butts weren’t the only trash that was found in John Peake Park and other green spaces in Chestermere. All sorts of garbage and waste materials are found just thrown around – so let’s revisit the littering bylaw.
No person shall:
• except in receptacles, dispose of litter on any portion of a public area;
• except in receptacles, dispose of liter on any portion of a public area from a vehicle;
• dispose of burning liter on any portion of a public area
• no person shall urinate or defecate in any public place, other than a public washroom (and yes, they had to create this bylaw….which means this was actually a problem. Seriously?!?!)
Littering, littering from a vehicle, spitting and placing pamphlets or flyers on vehicles all come with a minimum penalty of $100 and a specified penalty of $200. Urinating and defecating in public will land you a minimum penalty of $250 and a specified penalty of $500.
Councillor Gail Smith came out and helped this hard working crew and said, “It’s nice to see city staff and volunteers out cleaning up and helping to keep our parks looking great. It’s the responsibility of all to keep Chestermere beautiful”.
So, the bylaws are in place and law enforcement patrol the areas, but how do we catch the non-compliant? Well, thanks to modern technology and the lack of common sense and respect by those that can be frequently seen lined up in John Peake Park, surveillance is now in the park and watching.
Let’s do our part in keeping our community beautiful and clean!
