City council has approved a re-worded Official Community Plan amendment bylaw after the Ministry of Government Relations indicated the bylaw would only be official once the minister OKed it.
Council voted 6-0 to accept the revised amendment bylaw during its July 22 regular meeting. Coun. Chris Warren was absent.
Amending the bylaw meant deleting the phrase, “This bylaw comes into force on the day of passage,” and replacing it with, “This bylaw comes into force on the date of approval by the minister of Government Relations.”
This is the type of technical wording the ministry required before the bylaw could be official, a city administration report explained.
The purpose of the original bylaw was to amend the Future Land Use Concept map. The amendment to the bylaw was to accommodate the redevelopment of the former Union Hospital property for mixed residential and commercial use. The map identifies this location for long-term community service use. The map had to be amended to allow for the rezoning of the area.
Other bylaws
Council also gave first and second readings to four other proposed bylaws, but since Coun. Brian Swanson voted against each one, all four will have to come back for final approval at a future council meeting.
The proposed zoning bylaw amendment suggested generic amendments to this policy, including formatting, correcting of conflicting information and errors, and clarification, a report from city administration said. The amendments are intended to make the bylaw more user friendly and aligned with current practice and interpretation.
The proposed planning fee bylaw amendment would incorporate and update sign permit fees from the repealed sign bylaw amendment into the planning fee bylaw. The fees have been adjusted to more accurately represent the administrative costs for sign permit reviews.
A bylaw to repeal the sign bylaw was also presented, with all relevant content from this bylaw being added to the zoning bylaw.
Proposed changes to the city administration bylaw amendment would provide specific guidelines around the City of Moose Jaw’s budgeting principles and processes. This policy would form a framework for the annual development, presentation and approval of the operating, capital and equipment budgets.
The next regular council meeting is Aug. 12.
