The owners of a former church at 303 Coteau Street West will soon be able to redevelop the building from a religious centre into a commercial hub.
The Saskatchewan Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches used to operate Prairie Winds Church on South Hill, but shut down the church a couple of years ago. The organization approached city hall about rezoning the land to CZ contract zoning district from R1 large lot low density residential district, to allow the existing building and land to be used for a retail store and other future commercial uses.
During its Jan. 13 regular meeting, city council gave three readings to an amendment to the zoning bylaw to allow for these changes to happen. Council voted 6-1, with Coun. Brian Swanson opposed.
Since the vote was not unanimous, the bylaw amendment will have to come back to a future council meeting for official approval.
This church used to be called St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, Swanson pointed out. However, the main reason he was opposed to this was the building is in a residential neighbourhood and sits near a playground.
Coun. Crystal Froese supported the bylaw amendment because this is a former church that was situated in a large building. She thought it would be a bigger detriment to sit around unused and empty. She would rather see the building used to benefit the community.
“I would be worried more about vandalism and other things that can happen when buildings are left sitting for a long time,” she added.
This is a good reuse of the building, agreed Coun. Heather Eby. There is a similar former church building down the block that has been turned into a dance studio and has much more traffic than a furniture store would ever have.
She pointed council never received any negative submissions from area residents about the proposed changes to the former Prairie Winds Church building.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Jan. 27.
