Downtown overlay bylaw not restrictive

Times Reporter 

 

New businesses coming into the downtown area are going to be the first faced with following the guidelines of the new Downtown Overlay District Bylaw.  

When a new business opens in the downtown area, the first thing the owner should do is head to the town office and file an application for a development permit if they are planning to change the use of the property. They should also file for a signage permit. 

“Before they do anything they should be coming in to talk. That’s not just the downtown, before you’re doing anything construction-wise, or changing a use you should be coming in and talking to the town,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Strathmore Linda Nelson.  

“Most things require either a development permit, or a building permit. Some things don’t but it is best to check ahead of time.”

The Downtown Overlay District Bylaw specifies that the town has architectural controls over the way buildings will look. 

“The application (for a permit) would come forward and from there we would set up a meeting with the downtown design review committee,” said Nelson. 

“(We would) review the application and make sure that it meets all of the criteria and specifications within the Downtown Overlay District Bylaw. It is not a strict bylaw, a lot of times people think that a bylaw is restrictive, but sometimes it can be the exact opposite, it can give you more options and it can help generate those ideas.”

The underlying zoning is still there, so you still have those requirements, but what the town has done is added additional things that a business owner or a developer can do. The design committee can make recommendations and suggestions but they cannot approve a permit, and they cannot attach conditions to a permit; that is up to the development officer.

The committee is strictly there to make sure the application is following the guidelines and offer a few suggestions. 

Some of the general purposes of the bylaw are: to encourage adaptive re-use of abandoned, vacant or underutilized buildings or structures where appropriate; to allow for a mix of new land use s that are appropriate to both the needs of the community and the scale of the surrounding neighbourhoods; to maintain a consistent high level of design quality though the district; and to build upon the historic development patterns in the existing downtown area to create an attractive, vibrant, walk-able and economically successful downtown. 

A copy of the full bylaw can be found at http://www.strathmore.ca/mod/secfile/viewed.php?file_id=727.