Officials at North Battleford City Hall are anticipating next Monday's debate on the new zoning bylaw and official community plan to be a lively one.
A public hearing on the bylaw is set Monday, April 28. Preparations for that meeting dominated the discussion at the municipal services meeting held at City Hall this past Monday.
Among the items distributed at the meeting by City Clerk Debbie Wohlberg were the public hearing guidelines - rules that must be followed by those planning to speak at the meeting.
The procedures include registering with the city clerk prior to the meeting, the city clerk preparing an order of presenters, a time limit of 15 minutes, as well as a requirement that presenters, council and administration be respectful and speak to issues and not to personalities, people or the City in general.
Interest has been expressed in making presentations at the hearing, but nothing was nailed down as of Monday, with City Planner Tim LaFreniere describing it as a "fluid" situation for one possible presenter.
The zoning issue also came up later in the meeting as councillors discussed an online petition that is circulating the community about the proposed zoning bylaw.
The petition voiced opposition to plans to amend the zoning for the portion of 100th Street from 14th Avenue to Territorial Drive, and 101st Street from 18th to 20th Street.
According to the petition, "this plan would change the current zoning C1 to C3, which would exclude the following from being developed along the 100th Street corridor: retail stores, banks and financial institutions, business and government offices, medical and dental clinics, radio and television stations, real estate offices, bakeries, wholesale stores, residential and attached residential commercial, churches, health clinics, libraries, or public buildings. Furthermore, leaving the only C1 zoned area ... the downtown core."
It was this wording of the petition that had those on the committee concerned.
Both Councillor Ryan Bater and Mayor Ian Hamilton pointed out the wording is not an accurate interpretation of the proposed bylaw. Hamilton noted the "permissible uses" under the C3 would be "greatly expanded" in the new bylaw, and LaFreniere noted there were "substantial changes to the C3 proposed in the bylaw that were not discussed in the petition."
City officials got in touch with the organizer of the petition, Morley Dickson, and the petition has since been amended to reflect the concerns. However, Dickson maintains his opposition to the zoning changes being proposed for 100th and 101st Street.
In a statement posted underneath the petition dated April 22, Dickson stated that the "outcome of this change is to 'force' businesses into the decay that is downtown. In my estimation you can only force people to do two things, leave or not come at all. Understand that 'discretionary use' means businesses have to beg to be there and many are just told no. Please have a look at the proposed changes, come to the meeting and be heard."
