A miscommunication between city administration and city council over a rezoning application initially prevented city hall from moving forward on the request.
However, city administration cleared up the confusion during council’s Nov. 25 regular meeting, which allowed council to approve a motion 6-1 for administration to proceed with advertising the rezoning application in the affected area.
Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed.
The motion around the rezoning application originally came to council on Nov. 12, but was tabled until further information was provided. The initial motion — which made no mention of proceeding with advertising this issue — asked council to authorize city administration to proceed with rezoning parcels 86 and 87, Plan No. D4450 Ext. 27 and 28 to CZ Contract Zoning District from R1 Large Lot Low Density Residential District.
The 7,700-square-foot building at 303 Coteau Street West used to be a church, but the new owners want to turn the space into a retail store to sell home appliances and furniture.
“All we were looking for was we wanted to move forward to formal advertising so we could move to the bylaw stage,” Michelle Sanson, director of planning and development services, explained on Nov. 25. Normally when a rezoning application is received, city administration brings it to council for review. If council agrees with it, then administration moves ahead with formal advertising.
There have been a couple of times when recommendations for rezoning have come to council and Coun. Scott McMann has been fine with them, he said. But he also assumed that the people in the affected neighbourhoods were also OK with the rezoning of a property.
“It’s a chicken and egg process,” McMann continued. He wondered if another step was needed where city administration comes back with the results of the advertising before the application moves to the bylaw stage.
It’s frustrating to do all this work and then residents in the affected area are not in favour of the rezoning, McMann added. He would then have a difficult time supporting such an application if there is pushback.
The only issue with that is the rezoning application would have to be advertised twice, replied Sanson. The first would be for the initial process, while the second time would be to announce the formal process for the bylaw reading. That could create confusion for the people affected, who might think they have to go through the process twice.
The next regular council meeting is Dec. 9.
