Carbon residents will have the opportunity to voice their opinions of the possibility of raising laying hens in residential areas at a public forum this Thursday.

The Village is hosting the forum at the Carbon Community Hall on November 1 starting at 6 p.m. Carbon CAO Vanessa Van der Meer says the issue came back up after a resident who was keeping chickens received a stop order from the Village.

“She brought it forward and asked to speak with council. Council said let’s look into possible changes to our animal control bylaw as well as a chicken bylaw,” said Van der Meer. “Then it was requested by some residents who wanted a chicken forum.”

She said the forum is open to any resident who wishes to come. For those not able to come, they are able to email their questions and concerns beforehand.  Van der Meer says the format will include roundtable discussions with a councillor.

The issue will not be decided at the forum, but will come back to council’s next meeting on Monday.

“This will fall under our animal control bylaw, which we are changing no matter what because we already had to do some amendments to add some better definitions,” said Van der Meer.

The Aquaplex will be closed for a period of time after a significant leak was discovered this week.

The source of the leak involves two drains at the deep end of the pool installed as part of the pool renovation. To repair the leak the pool had to be drained.

A contractor has been contacted and will begin repair work as soon as possible, town officials say.

“Everyone involved in the pool is extremely disappointed, but we are working as quickly as possible to correct the problem,” said town CAO Darryl Drohomerski.

The town has not provided an expected completion date.