Councillors were asked to approve first reading to amend the land use bylaw to allow new commercial development.
The property is located on 4800 60 Street just north of the Iron Horse restaurant, explained CAO Brad Watson at a regular meeting April 9. “They’re asking for a split zoning.”
There are 2.42 hectares of land owned by Jamil Rawji, who owns Jakkids Holdings, and the request is for 1.579 hectares to be reclassified as low-density multi-family residential from low density residential.
The request for the other .634 hectares is to reclassify it to highway commercial.
The request is consistent with a future land concept plan, added Watson. “The intent is to have multiple housing units.”
Watson does not know what the plan is for the commercial side but looks forward to the potential it could bring to the town.
Coun. John Jacobs agreed. “We are limited with what we have for highway commercial in the area.”
First reading allows for community discussion and a public hearing has been set for May 14.
Services such as sewer and water are already installed on the property.
Business hours bylaw update
Results from the online survey of the proposed businesss hours bylaw have just been received by Watson.
“We’re looking at an amendment of taking the pawnshops out and also the change for liquor deliveries to licenced activities,” he said.
Election on the horizon
Elections have been set for Oct. 21 and terms have changed to four years rather than three. Voters are going to need two pieces of identification including photo ID during provincial and civic elections, explained Watson.
Empty downtown stores
Coun. Rick Bonnett is concerned about the number of empty stores in downtown Ponoka and he would like to see some discussion about the issue.
“I think we need to be undertaking a discussion about how many businesses we have in the downtown area.”
He feels some community discussion is needed to fix the problem.
“We need to have a discussion about what we can do to address it,” dded Bonnett.
No decisions were made after the comment.
Outdoor recreation
Bonnett wondered if the outdoor recreational fields such as the soccer pitch and softball fields will be ready for activities since there is still quite a bit of snow.
Wes Amendt, community services director, said staff are going to work to clear the snow but additional snowfall is expected.
Watson feels other outdoor groups are also going to be behind in their schedule. “They (staff) are cognizant of it.”
