Council grants zoning permit for Graham Avenue development

Monday night, the final stage of municipal approval for a proposed housing development on the west side was completed, as Prince Rupert City Council rezoned the land in question and then granted a zoning permit for Prince Rupert Living Concepts' Graham Avenue development.

The decision to allow the project to move forward came after a half hour Public Hearing on the topic, which started with an overview of the process taken by Council to date and what the next stage in the process would be.

Following his presentation, Council heard from the public gallery in which a representative of a number of residents of the area outlined some of the concerns that residents have regarding the development.

The main ones being issues of traffic, parking and infrastructure worries, with residents expressing their thoughts on the nature of water and sewer services in the area as well as what impact the development may have on Internet service to the area.

Council listened to those concerns and weighed them against the advice that they had received from City Planner Zeno Krekic on the topic, he advised that engineering staff had confirmed that the infrastructure issues were not of a major concern of the engineering department.

Councillor Cunningham relayed some of the concerns he had received about water pressure in the area, a concern echoed by Councillor Thorkelson.

Councillor Ashley suggested that the City table the application until the city engineering department could provide a report on the nature of the water and sewer service in the region.

However that quest not to move forward as Councillor Garon observed that the City Planner had stated that engineering had no concerns over the issues raised. Making that issue not one that should hold back the proposed project.

Kevin Newton one of the proponents of the development also offered up some responses to questions raised by the public as to the nature of traffic flow and parking requirements of his proposed condominium development.

As we outlined on the blog back in February, the proposed project will be towards an upper scale development, geared towards seniors or those looking to downsize their current living accommodations,.

With their zoning requirements in place Rupert Living Concepts will now set to work developing a timeline for construction of the housing development.

You can review the Public Hearing aspect of the process from the City's Video Archive for March 24th , it runs from the 0:00 mark to thirty eight minutes.

The actual re-zoning and discussion of the project takes place later in the City Council session, you can view it from the three hour  four minute mark to the three hour seven minute mark.

For more items of note from Prince Rupert City Council see our Discussion points archive.