Adopting an amendment to its Good Neighbour (Nuisance smoke and campfire) bylaw went up in smoke at Vernon council Monday.
Council was prepared to give final adoption to the amendment except, as Coun. Bob Spiers pointed out, the amended part stated that “every person must extinguish or turn off a campfire, outdoor fireplace, outdoor burning appliance or portable campfire apparatus at – specifically – 11 p.m.”
“They can turn it off at 11 p.m. They’ll turn it back on at 11:05 p.m.,” said Spiers, who called for fires to be extinguished between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
But Coun. Scott Anderson said it was “outrageous” to ask residents to shut down fires at 11 p.m.
“There’s nothing wrong with them at 10:59 p.m., and there’s nothing wrong with them at 11:01 p.m.,” he said. “To me, that’s an atrocious imposition.”
Final adoption of the bylaw was unanimously defeated, and will return to council for approval without a specific time limit.
The bylaw had previously received a lot of heat - see previous story here.