Council addressing bylaws on light agenda

By Lethbridge Herald on October 8, 2024.

Herald photo by Al Beeber City council today will be asked to give first reading to Bylaw 6458 - Land Use Bylaw Amendment regarding the property at 804 6 St. S.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

A light agenda is on tap for city council when it meets today at 12:30 p.m. in chambers at City Hall.

No presentations are scheduled and no official business is on the agenda. Instead, council will address one bylaw for first reading and two others for second and third readings.

Community planner II Genesis Molesky will ask council to give first reading to Bylaw 6458 – Land Use Bylaw Amendment regarding the property at 804 6 St. S.

The proposed bylaw amendment would allow the development of a townhouse with up to six units, council will hear in the report by Molesky.

This would be achieved by amending the land use classification from Direct Control (Existing) to Direct Control (New).

The current direct control district – Bylaw 6141 – allows the development of a four-unit townhouse “in accordance with the site plan and elevations that regulate the site design such as building footprint (size and location), access, parking, landscaping, and building design. The applicant is proposing a townhouse with up to six units, which is not allowed under the current Direct Control (DC) Land Use District. The proposed Direct Control (DC) Land Use District would regulate the development standards for a six-unit townhouse,” says the report. 

The property is located in the London Road area and is surrounded by variety of land use districts, says the report.

The existing home and garage were built in 1947 and 1984 respectively and the site was initially rezoned from Low Density Residential to Direct Control in 2017. It was again rezoned to its current designation in 2018.

Molesky’s report says the previous and existing DC zonings allowed specific developments that were in alignment with the respective site plans and elevations.

“This provided assurance to the neighbours about what would be developed at the site but offered very little flexibility for the landowner or developer to change or adapt the building design. The current Direct Control Bylaw 6141 includes a site plan and elevations that regulate every aspect of the development allowed at this location, including the site design such as building footprint (size and location), access, parking, landscaping, and building design restricting the landowner to building what is shown in the site plan. Any changes to the approved site plan and elevations requires a rezoning,” says the report.

“The limitation on adaptability has impacted the redevelopment opportunities at this site. Bylaw 6458 would introduce new rules to allow a townhouse with up to six units at this location.”

The report notes that the proposed amendment would introduce new development standards to allow a six-unit townhouse with those standards regulating such factors as density, building height and setbacks, parking and landscaping.

“This is less prescriptive in nature, by shifting from regulating through specific site plans to regulating through written development standards. This will continue to provide certainty to surrounding residents and landowners while allowing greater flexibility from what is allowed currently,” adds the report.

The two bylaws to be given second and third reading involve a pair of buildings on 2 Ave. S.that were demolished last year after a downtown fire.

Those buildings were the Bow On Tong building and neighbouring Manie Opera Society building.

On Feb. 3, 2014 council passed two bylaws which designated the Bow On Tong Building and the Manie Opera Society Building as Municipal Historic Resources. That same month, the province designated them as Provincial Historic Resources.

But on Jan. 31 of last year, a fire at the Bow On Tong caused severe damage which required its immediate demolition. On April 19 of 2023, a structural engineer’s report was provided to the City by a representative of the Bow On Tong parcel and Manie Opera Society building that detailed damage to the latter because of the Jan. 31 fire.

The structural engineer recommended that due to the prohibitive cost to stabilize the building, the opera house be demolished. That took place in May of this year.

Because neither building exists anymore, the City administration has developed Bylaws 6451 and 6452 to repeal the MHR designations.

If council decides not to pass the bylaws then the properties will remain MHRs even though there is nothing left to preserve. This could complicate future efforts to redevelop the properties, say reports by senior community planner Ross Kilgour.

Also today, councillor Belinda Crowson will present a report on the recent Alberta Municipalities Conference in Red Deer.

The report states that the conference saw the most resolutions ever brought before one and as a result not all resolutions were voted upon.