BYLAW NO. 2696 OF THE COUNTY OF GRANDE PRAIRIE NO.1 A by-law of the County of Grande Prairie No.1 in the Province of Alberta, regarding the required inspections and administration of the use of roads, highways, and undeveloped road allowances within the County, cited as the Seismic Survey Bylaw. WHEREAS the Municipal Government Act, Revised Statutes of Alberta 2000 gives municipalities the authority to direct, manage and control roads within the municipality and pursuant to the provisions in the Traffic Safety Act municipalities have the authority to pass bylaws controlling and regulating the use of all highways within its jurisdiction; AND WHEREAS the Council of the County of Grande Prairie No.1 desires to control and regulate the use of the highways within the County of Grande Prairie as relates to Seismic Survey operations; AND WHEREAS Seismic Survey operators may desire to use constructed roads (as defined in the Mines and Minerals Act RS.A. 2000 Chapter M.17, and amendments and its regulations) and undeveloped road allowances under the direction, control and management of the County for the purpose of or in connection with conducting Seismic Surveys; AND WHEREAS in accordance with the Exploration Regulation, seismic survey operators require the written consent of the County in order to perform seismic testing on roads under the direction, control and management of the County; AND WHEREAS the County is required to carry out review of plans, inspections and supervision of the roads within the County by reason of the use of those roads for or in relation to seismic surveys and the County desires to impose a fee upon seismic survey operators due to these increased demands arising by reason of the conduct of Seismic Surveys upon or from the roads under its direction, control and management. NOW THEREFORE, the Council of the County of Grande Prairie No.1, in the Province of Alberta, duly assembled enacts as follows: 1. TITLE: This Bylaw may be cited as "The Seismic Survey Bylaw". 2. DEFINITIONS: In this bylaw, words and phrases may be construed as follows: a) Seismic Survey - means an activity carried out for the purpose of determining the nature and characteristics of land, which activity includes but is not limited to the use of dynamite and vibrators. -- ----
Bylaw 2696 -Seismic Survey Bylaw Page 2 b) County -means the County of Grande Prairie No.1 c) Roads - means constructed roads or statutory road allowances that are undeveloped being under the direction, control and management of the County and as defined in the Municipal Government Act, Chapter M26, RSA 2000 and as defined in the Traffic Safety Act, Chapter T-6, RSA 2000. d) Notice of Intent, Notice of Completion or Notice of Removal of Crewand Equipment are the notices required to be given under the Exploration Regulation. 3. INTERPRETATION a) In this Bylaw wherever the singular is used it also means the plural and wherever the masculine is used it also means the feminine, as the context requires. b) Where there is any conflict between the provisions of this Bylaw and any other bylaw of the County, the provisions of this Bylaw shall prevail. c) The Recitals to this Bylaw form a part of this Bylaw. 4. INSPECTION FEE a) Any person, individual, corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship which does or intends to carry out a Seismic Survey on or from any constructed road or undeveloped road that is under the direction, control and management of the County, or use such a road for the purposes of carrying out a Seismic Survey, shall pay the inspection fee as required by section 4 of this Bylaw. b) The County may charge an inspection fee in accordance with the attached Schedule of Inspection Fees, as amended from time to time and included in the County's Schedule of Fees, to any person, individual, corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship regarding the use of the roads under its direction, control and management when Seismic Survey work is conducted on or from such roads. c) The inspection fee shall be paid to the County upon filing of the Notice of Intent or upon demand. Demand may be made by the County up to four (4) months following receipt by the County of a Notice of Completion or Notice of Removal of Crew and Equipment. e) The inspection fee required to be paid under this Bylaw is payable for any Seismic Survey work carried out prior to passage of this bylaw for which the County receives a Notice of Completion of the work after passage of the Bylaw.
Bylaw 2696 -Seismic Suroey Bylaw Page 3 5. DAMAGES CAUSED BYSEISMIC Nothing in this Bylaw shall be construed to curtail or abridge the right of the County to bring an action for damages against the person, individual, corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship conducting a Seismic Survey, when such damages were directly or indirectly caused by a Seismic Survey or those conducting it. 6. PENALTIESAND OFFENCES a) Failure to pay the inspection fee is an offence. Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this Bylaw or who suffers or permits any act or thing to be done in contravention or in violation of any of the provisions of this Bylaw is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED Dollars ($1200.00) or such other amount as may be specified in this Bylaw for a first offence in any calendar year to a summary convictionto a fine of not less ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED Dollars ($1200.00) and not more than $10,000.00 and to imprisonment of not more than one year for non-payment of the fine. For a second offence in any calendar year to a specified penalty of TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED xx / 100 ($2,500.00) DOLLARS. b) If a person is found guilty of an offence, the court may, in addition to any fine or other penalty imposed, order the person to comply with this Bylaw. c) In the case of an offence that is of a continuing nature, a contravention constitutes a separate offencein respect ofeach day or part of a day on which it continues. d) If a Violation Ticket is issued in respect of an offence, the Violation Ticket may: i) Specify the fine amount established by the Bylaw for the offence. ii) Require a person to appear in court without the alternative of making a voluntary payment. iii) Allow the person who committed the offence to make a voluntary payment equal to the specified fine. e) If a Violation Ticket is issued in respect to an offence which provides for a voluntary payment equal to a specified fine, the person who committed the offence may plead guilty to the offence and make a voluntary payment equal to the specified fine without the necessity of appearing in Court.
Bylaw 2696 -Seismic Survey Bylaw 7. SEVERABILITY Page 4 Should any section or part of this Bylaw be found to be improperly enacted or ultra vires, for any reason, then such section or part shall be regarded as being severable from the Bylaw and the Bylaw remaining after such severance shall be effective and enforceable. 8. ENACTMENT This Bylaw shall come into force and take effect upon the date of the final reading thereof. READ FIRST, SECOND AND BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT OF ALL COUNCILLORS PRESENT, A AND FINAL TIME AND FINALLYPASSED Q'\~ THIS Lu DAY OF THI~./ 'Ov~4,geJZ A.D. 2003.....
Bylaw 2696 -Seismic Survey Bylaw Page 5 Administrative process ($125.00jKM) SCHEDULE" A" -BYLAW 2696 Upon receipt of Notice of Intent, review of preliminary programs for road usage by County Staff Notification letter and billing for road usage in program On going administrative review and filing of information for each program as it comes in ie; preliminary map, preliminary application, notice of intent, notice of commencement Public Works Review of Seismic Program ($500jKM) on site (Seismic Related Occurrences) Inspection of infrastructure (ie:water wells, transmission lines etc.)where programs overlap county infrastructure Pre-inspection of roads by County Staff Ongoing weekly or bi-weekly inspections by County Staff of road usage Meetings on site with seismic contractors by County Staff Re-scheduling of grader operator routes for road maintenance due to seismic lines that have not been moved Graders having to lift over seismic lines that are not moved out of the way for maintenance (extra time required to conduct maintenance operations due to lines crossing roadways), after seismic company has been requested to ensure roads are suitable for maintenance Graders having to return to roads to complete maintenance such as winging snow into ditch where it was not possible due to seismic lines (additional time required to go back to maintain roads missed due to seismic) County Staff responding to ratepayer complaints regarding Traffic from seismic contractors Providing information to concerned rate payers regarding seismic programs such as contact names and phone numbers; advising of what their rights are and which government agencies to take their concerns to Working with landowners' concerns regarding water wells on adjacent properties and communicating with ratepayers as to why seismic programs are allowed to be conducted within road rights-of-way Final Inspection($125.00jKM) Post program inspections by County Staff,including final inspection; working with consultants to sign off on project; insuring that all concerns have been taken care off, all administrative work that is required to complete and close files relating to specific program