Peace River town council held a public hearing on May 8 to see if any community member had concerns with changes to Land Use Bylaw 1891 to allow development in the community.

Coupled with a request to change the Municipal Development Plan, Doopin Industries Inc. asked for Land Use bylaw 1891 to be changed.

“Currently, residential development cannot be located on commercial lands under the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) and the LUB Amendment would redistrict Commercial Lands to Direct Control District to support developments such as the present application for mixed use,” says Mayor Elaine Manzer.

“This area is presently zoned as Highway Commercial and to possibly facilitate a developer’s application mixed commercial and residential use of the lands, the land would need to be rezoned and the proposed way to do this is to redistrict the lands to Direct Control District. Sites can then be individually evaluated for different uses,” says Manzer.

Manzer explains the Town received an application for development of a site on large lots that have been sitting with no development for an extended period of time. The proposed amendments provided a way to allow the possibility of development in the community.

“This development proposes to include one apartment building with underground parking, four commercial buildings with a total of 10 commercial units,” says Manzer.

“Three of the four commercial units would be designed to accommodate a drive-through,” she adds.

Manzer says council considered the matter during the public hearing and has required the applicant to submit additional information prior to a second public hearing and second and third readings of the bylaw.

“The Town has not received comments from the public at this point but welcomes comments at future deliberations on this,” says Manzer.

Emily Plihal Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - South Peace News - southpeacenews.com

Emily Plihal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, South Peace News