City council made a number of zoning bylaw changes at the Sept. 23 council meeting to accommodate some of the ongoing growth and development in the city, including making an amendment to allow for the new location of Dr. Paszkiewicz's new Weyburn Medical Clinic.
An application was made to add "medical clinic" as a discretionary use under the zoning category of Major Arterial Commercial zoning district; the clinic had moved into a commercial business at 85B Government Road, including signing a lease, before informing the city of the move. The city informed the doctor that this zoning district did not allow this use of the building, as MAC districts want enterprises that are intended for purposes that serve the traveling public and require public exposure to highways and other major transportation corridors.
City staff recommended that the clinic be allowed as a discretionary use in the MAC district.
In another zoning change, an application came in from Riverwood Development Corp., to change the zoning of phase 2 of their development of the former Souris Valley grounds to residential semi-detached, or R2, and residential suburban multi-family, or R4, to allow for the development of 38 small parcel lots, a townhouse complex and a municipal park in Riverwood.
Part of the difficulty for the city, noted Martino Verhaeghe, director of planning and development, is Nicor has not yet addressed a number of development issues in Phase 1. Included as concerns is that high-quality fill dirt and bedding sand has been removed by the contractor, and no authorization was given by the city to remove this material; apparently, Riverwood has already used half the quantity of bedding sand for their underground utilities.
Another rezoning request came from a company, Bi-Tech Electric, who wants to build a contractor's shop and offices.
The application was to change zoning from Urban Holdings and Parkway to HC, or Highway Commercial; no neighbouring properties or the city had any issues with the rezoning, so second and third reading were held and the rezoning was approved by council.
A debriefing report was provided on the mock disaster held by the city at the Weyburn Airport on Sept. 10.
The participants included the Fire Department, Weyburn Police Service, RCMP, RM of Weyburn, Weyburn EMS and the Weyburn Airport Board.
In total there was over 40 participants with seven victims, all needing various levels of response, with the scenario of a light plane crashing into a pickup truck driven by a drunk driver.
In the areas needing improvement, the group determined communications need to be improved, with a suggestion there be two incident commanders run the emergency response.
Directions needed to be clearer and all entrances to the airport should be more clearly marked, and all emergency vehicles should use lights and sirens.
The fees for season campers at Nickle Lake Regional Park will rise to $150 a year starting next year, city council was told at their Sept. 9 meeting, in his report from Coun. Winston Bailey.
"We compared other parks and their rates, and we're still in the middle of the road with most other regional parks in the province. We'll have added revenues we hope from this, and those will go into making the park a better facility," said Coun. Bailey.
Reporting on the summer season which just wrapped up on Sept. 15, he said construction of the new entrance gate and office will begin right away, in the same location as the current one.
Coun. Bailey noted the old play structure has also been taken down and a new one put up, and the fence for the paddling pool was installed. He said some work may begin this fall on developing more new sites in the park.
Gate receipts for the park were initially down at the start of the year due to a cool spring, but the warm summer weather partly made up for it, so overall it was "a solid year" for the park.
He noted there was some additional training needed for staff for the paddling pool, and next year there will be some additional equipment for the pool.
"The pool is felt to be necessary for the operation of the park," said Coun. Bailey.
Looking back at this season, he told council there was once more vandalism to park bathrooms, and asked the public for information, if anyone knows about who committed the damage.
"If anyone is caught doing this, they will not be allowed back into the park for a very long time," said Coun. Bailey.
He noted the park did very well this year with ball tournaments, well enough that there may be more next year, helping to bring in more revenues to the park, and the slow-pitch league is a big part of that.
In regard to the water supply at the park, Bailey noted the board has had to "jump through some hoops", including getting the water tested four times to ensure its quality remains high.
"It's an extra cost to us, but it's something we need to do," said Coun. Bailey.
