Seeing as my council preview was so infernally long, I’ll try to keep this review short.

As mentioned, there were two condo conversions before council tonight. The first, at 1235 Grace Street, was approved. Planning Commission, city staff and the current tenants all agreed that this conversion was a good idea, so no surprise council felt the same.

Council also agreed that the 4304 Rae Street conversion should not go forward. Apparently, council received some telling correspondence from a few of the tenants saying a conversion would cause them hardship and that they felt pressured by their landlord to go along with it. Council listened and said no to the conversion. This is only the second condo conversion to be denied since 2008. Check the next print prairie dog for details.

Beyond that, the Capital Pointe condo/hotel complex received final approval. Demolition of the Plains Hotel will come at the end of the summer. Above-ground construction will begin next spring. Soon, condo sales will be handled out of what was once the Sushi Bank.

Finally, the fire bylaw amendment was passed. Newly added to it is a curfew on outdoor fires. Starting essentially now, you can’t have an outdoor fire between the hours of 1:00 am and 12:00 pm. If you do, you run the risk of being fined up to $300.