Proposal brought to council

Times Reporter      

 

First reading was given, on June 18 by Strathmore Town Council, to the proposal to rescind the current Land Use Bylaw (LUB). Normally for first reading there is no discussion, just the setting of a public hearing date. Due to the importance of the issue and its relevance to much of the town, Pat Maloney, a contract planner with the town, spoke briefly about the proposal. 

“What we’re looking at doing is developing a brand new Land Use Bylaw so that it will be 100 per cent, rescind the previous, adopt the new,” said Maloney. 

It has had internal circulation, and there have been several meetings with the planning department about the new proposed LUB. Betty Ann Fountain has kept notes over the years of things she would like to see changed, or that administration has had trouble interpreting or that have been missing. Maloney said they tried to incorporate a couple of those and some new things into the LUB.

“The licensed medical marijuana facilities is in here. It is something that just about every municipality is putting in their bylaw. It’s to identify where a licensed medical marijuana facility would be located, because by not addressing it, it actually leaves it more open to challenge then by specifically identifying where it can be,” said Maloney.

“This also includes secondary suites which has been a topic for discussion in the town. We did include secondary suites as an opportunity in the Municipal Development Plan, this outlines definitions, regulations and where they would be located.”

The new land use map also addresses a lot of the technical amendments that have been noted as needing an update. After first reading, Maloney said the plan is to circulate the plan specifically to the developers and builders in town, to the regular agencies, and will hold off on public consultation until September. 

What they would like to do is a workshop consultative session where people can maybe go from table to table and find out how they could go about building a duplex or a commercial development, for example, would work with the plan. Going to push the consultative work in September and may partner it with bringing forward the downtown revitalization strategy, so there could be two purposes for the consultation. The Land Use Bylaw is where things begin to directly affect residents. It is when talk starts about fences, neighbours, proximity to services and other things that will have a direct impact on residents. 

First Reading was given and a public hearing date was set for Sept. 17. 

to rescind Land Use Bylaw