By Treena Mielke
A request to rezone land to country residential from agricultural that may contain deposits of gravel has been approved by Ponoka County council, but the process to get the final nod was somewhat rocky.
Council gave second reading to the rezoning request from Don Cameron for the rezoning of 302 acres located on the west side of Highway 2 on the Gee Road at its Sept. 13 meeting, but could not go ahead with third reading as Coun. George Veheire was opposed.
At its Sept. 26 meeting, council gave third reading to the request, but Veheire had not changed his mind.
“I’m still opposed,” he said. “I would like to see this held off. There could be a resource sitting under the ground and the gravel pits all the way around could eventually open up.”
But Veheire’s motion to table the rezoning until January so that the applicant could complete testing to determine the quantity of gravel (if any) on the land was defeated.
The rest of council agreed that Cameron would be required to test for gravel when he subdivided the land.