City moves forward with re-zoning approval for creation of impound yard in Yellowhead Centre

One piece of business that did find some forward momentum at Monday's City Council session was a request for a re-zoning of an area in the Yellowhead Centre to allow for the introduction of a vehicle impound yard on Saskatoon Avenue.

The process of approval began with a Public hearing, with City Planner Zeno Krekic offering up the synopsis of the proposed re-zoning, highlighting for council how at the moment access to land for industrial development in the city is limited and to address some of the issues re-zoning of existing industrial land is a measure that the City should consider.

As for the amendment of the night for zoning of the Yellowhead centre area, Mr. Krekic noted that the city had received of three letters of concern related to the proposed development of an impoundment yard on Saskatoon Avenue, with noise, light pollution and visual issues of the main concern.

Council moved forward with re-zoning in the Saskatoon Avenue area
to allow for the creation of an impoundment yard for the Yellowhead Centre area

Following the short overview, the public was invited to offer comment on the proposed re-zoning amendment, however no one in the audience came forward to speak to the issue.

The process would then be picked up later in the evening's Regular Council session, with Council members giving the topic one more review and then discussing some of the concerns of note from the correspondences that city staff had received and noting that they would like to see those concerns noted as part of the amendment process.

Councillor's Mirau and Thorkelson had comments related to some of the concerns of those in the immediate area and asked as to the nature of the city's engagement with the proponent to this point of the process, with Councillor Thorkelson focusing on what steps the Council can take to put in place some rules on activity surrounding the site.

Councillor Cunningham also acknowledged the concerns of those of the area, however did observe that the proponent of the impoundment yard was a long established business in the community and he observed that he would be likely to take note of the concerns of those in the area and make attempts to be a good neighbour.

"We have a situation here where we have a proprietor of a business, who has been in business for a very long time in this city and I don't think he is going to go out of his way to antagonize a neighbourhood he's going to work with the neighbourhood I would think  " -- Councillor Cunningham offering his support to a zoning amendment for the Yellowhead industrial area of the city.

Following the discussion Council voted to give third reading to the amendment, with Councillor Thorkelson then adding a motion to the resolution to ask the proponent to follow the guidelines on noise and lights that council had concerns on.

Among the remediation items to be considered, screening around the impound yard to reduce the visual impact of the site, adjustments to lighting on the site and the reduction or elimination of noise such as back up horns and flashing lights during those hours outside of the normal business day.

The latter concerns are issues that City staff will have to investigate further to ensure that it complies with any safety regulations

The process will now move forward through the Development Permit Stage, the impoundment yard is to be operated by Jay's Custom Towing.

You can review the Public Hearing presentation from the start of the Council meeting through to the point, the Council discussion on the topic arrives at the 1 hour 15 minute mark and continues for ten minutes or so.





Further items related to commercial development on the North Coast can be reviewed from our commercial sector archive.

For more items related to City Council discussions see our archive page here.