The hotly debated Land Use Bylaw in Lloydminster brought a full crowd to city hall for the Oct. 7 council meeting and public hearing.
The gallery was packed with over 60 members of the public coming out to witness the meeting and the public hearing.
The public hearing started at 2 p.m. in council chambers and ran until the end of the last speaker just before 3:30 p.m.
Just moments before the public meeting, an amendment was passed that removed three or more units from low-density districts, and moved two-unit dwellings, secondary suites, and additional units, into discretionary use for low-density residential districts.
Speakers during the open house included: Paul Richer, Kurt Hutchings, Graham Brown, Bill Harder, Melinda Laley, Russell Moncrieff, Nanette Steward, Linda Kappel, Anwar Mangla, Jim Kelly, Erin Rommel, Colin Suter, Cory Anderson, Sara Christie, Marilyn Harder, Karen Ast, Karmen Dell, Mohammed Dell and Miranda Gasur.
The issue of higher-density housing in low-density residential neighbourhoods was something Lloydminster residents contested.
“As far as land use bylaw, thanks for the change, at least on the low-density residential. It puts a lot of my talk a little bit mute, and I really appreciate that council really does listen,” said Paul Richer, the first speaker during the public meeting.
Richer acknowledged councils' move to leave low-density housing as is but moved on to the increase in allowed variance.
“I argue against the discretionary part for the development officer, I point to the bylaw to which currently, the discretion and variance authority in the 2016 bylaw has a 15 per cent variance,” he said.
Richer argued with the variance going up to 25 per cent and there being no architectural control, the city may see homes that don’t look modern. He spoke specifically about Edmonton retaining architectural control and having modern, nice-looking units.
The hot-button topic of additional permitted units in low density neighbourhoods quickly took a back seat to the issue of community support centres.
“In the proposed land use bylaw there’s a section for community support centres, I think a lot of people in the audience today are concerned about this, as this would allow community support centres to be situated in various places throughout the city that they currently aren’t permitted,” said Kurt Hutchings.
Hutchings would be correct, as many of the speakers following his presentation spoke specifically on their gripes with the community support centre section.
“In the general district section 7.1.2 you list businesses such as shopping centres, fitness studios, religious assemblies, hotels and public libraries and group them all together with community support centres, minor or major,” said Melinda Laley. “Allowing these general uses into one commercial category would allow a support centre to open up next to any commercial business in any area.”
She raised the question about what safety measures the centres are required to follow. Laley says the bylaw is vague and calls for the bylaw to be more definitive.
Speakers of the day covered a variety of topics and various talking points within the bylaw. The full public hearing can be found on the City of Lloydminster’s website.
Read more: Amendment lowers allowed units in LUB
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