GREENSTONE – Greenstone's administrative staff are recommending that council remove the 'No discharge of firearms' signage found in rural areas.
This recommendation was put forth to council after discovering that the municipality has no by-law in place to prohibit people from discharging their firearm on that land.
A municipal by-law would not apply because the prohibited areas are Crown land.
Essentially, staff are recommending the removal of the signs rather than passing a by-law and moving the signs to municipal land.
By doing so, the municipality will need to make room for additional resources to enforce the by-law and moving the signs.
Coun. Alan Ouellet said he liked seeing those signs because they are positioned in areas where residential properties also occupy the land.
Although he understands that the municipality has no grounds to enforce the posted restriction - however, the question he proposes to staff and his fellow council members is the idea that the signage acts as a guideline for hunters that there is a possible risk to community members.
“My only question - is this going to leave us in a situation where maybe we should have some kind of signage that advertises that they are entering a residential area? Being again with tourism, you're going to get people that don't necessarily know that down that road is residential. So, if they are to come across wildlife that they're targeting, it could still leave us open to those problems,” said Ouellet.
He said he would rather see signage that stated these areas are close to residential properties rather than having the signs completely removed.
Chief Administrative Officer Mark Wright explained that he could motion to staff to bring back a report that would evaluate the cost-benefit of Ouellet's request.
Councillor Vicky Budge also comments she would support this motion stating that the importance of having signage that tells hunter they are entering a resident area would be beneficially.
Administration will bring a report back to council at a later date.