Businesses seeking to build bunkhouses
Though bunkhouses may call to mind grainy, black-and-white movies about cowboys tossing coffee grounds into a camp fire, they're not just a thing of the past. Oliver Paipoonge may allow construction of the structures on commercial properties if a proposed amendment to the municipality's zoning bylaw is approved. Municipal chief administrator Wayne Hanchard said on Thursday that the municipality has received requests from businesses looking to build bunkhouses for workers. If the zoning bylaw is amended, it would define exactly what constitutes a bunkhouse, and "permit multiple persons to stay on a commercial property for certain reasons." According to a management report, some companies may wish to provide a bunkhouse for truck drivers "who need to get the required amount of rest before operating again." The report noted that bunkhouse rooms "are not for rent or lease to persons other than employees of the same employer." It added: "A bunkhouse shall not exist without an active commercial business." Council is to mull the proposed zoning amendment at a public meeting set for May 14. The meeting is to take place at 5 p.m. at Oliver Paipoonge town hall on Highway 130. Questions about the proposed amendment can be sent to the municipality by email at planning@oliverpaipoonge.on.ca.
Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal
