Council calls for covenant, additional report prior to final approval of zoning change for Sloan/McKay property

City Staff has been instructed to do a little more digging into the plans for the consolidation of lots and changes for a property on the corner of Sloan and McKay streets, that after City Council discussed the proposal for a zoning change as part of their Monday session.

As we noted on Monday, the project was the subject of a scheduled Public Hearing for Monday night, though no recording of that process has been posted for review through the city's video page. 

The topic did however come up for discussion at the end of the Council session Monday and there were a number of areas of the request for the zoning change that made for discussion and additional measures to be put in place before it comes back for a final vote.

Monday night Councillor Adey noted of some similarities to a recent zoning issue at Council and observed of the potential for a larger vertical impact from the rezoning request, a topic which in the end led to the decision to put in place a covenant on the property to keep its current footprint in place as is.

Likewise, Councillor Barry Cunningham expressed his concern over the prospect of work taking place prior to any civic approval being granted and called attention to some areas of note related to parking on the site.

"I notice that there's a lot of construction going on in that building and I don't see any building permit on display. So again I don't know if we've got another problem with construction going on before this is passed or not, but it's something else I would like to check into"

Towards those concerns, City Manager Rob Buchan offered up the option of preparing a final report on compliance, with the Council then making a requisition that one be provided prior to the request coming up for final approval.

"Mr. Mayor, if Council would like staff to investigate the number of units and the requirement for a building permit prior to adoption, we can certainly do that. This has to go to Highways for approval first and we also have to have the convenance prepared. 

So if you want a final report on compliance with Parking and compliance with building permits and  the number of units, we'd be happy to to that"

Staff will now, include the request for the covenant and take to the task of review of the plans for the location, and deliver their report before City Council brings the topic back up for discussion.

You can review the discussion on the council overview from the city's video archive starting at the one Hour fifty minute mark.

More notes on the Monday Council Session can be explored from our Council Timeline.

A wider overview of past Council discussion themes is available here.

A look at the local housing situation in the city can be reviewed here.