I thought this
month I would touch on a few of the things I have seen lately in our nice, not
so little community; after all, we are (I am sure) over 5,000 people by now. The
census results for Calgary are out so I am sure ours won’t be far behind. Percentage
wise, I bet we grew more than Calgary did since the last count. One of the
things I like the most is that we are still a community that has that small
town feel, we still have the large lots that you can’t get in too many places
in Alberta any more and I think we can keep it that way if we continue to pay
attention. At the last Council meeting, there was an application for the last
phase of Boulder Creek. It was planned to be smaller lots or multi family but
the developer came to Council with a proposal for the same large lot style of
development, saying they found that type more desirable by their buyers. I made
a motion to accept their proposal and got full support from the balance of
Council, which made me feel good.
We did get a
lot of rain again, but this time County personnel were prepared and available.
Some of the ditches got pretty full and although it was quite taxing on the
systems, everything seemed to drain. There was no pumping necessary for a
change and I got very few calls. The waste water system still took in a lot of
storm water, signifying that there still are sump pumps discharging into the
sanitary system instead of the storm system. I have heard from County personnel
and they will not have much choice but to start inspecting and fining those who
are running the sumps into the floor drains. Please consider this an
opportunity to correct your systems if you are not discharging the sumps
outdoors, I won’t be able to do anything about substantial fines being imposed;
it will hurt and it is not necessary, correct the systems, please.
Recently I had
a request to bring forward changes to the Land Use or Zoning in Hanson Park.
This is not a new request since the lots are quite large in that area and
people want large garages. The way it works is that an area that is being
developed must have a Land Use assigned to it. If none of the uses in the
zoning bylaws work, a developer can ask for Direct Control Zoning or Land Use,
basically becoming unique Zoning. Langdon has 4 areas like that, Hanson Park
has DC97, Boulder Creek is DC85, Langdon West is DC75 and Langdon Meadows hasn’t
started yet is DC151. Part of Hanson Park’s DC bylaw describes the size of
garages that are allowed, they are referred to as accessory buildings. A single
accessory building can be no larger than 700 square feet but you can have 2
total and the total can be 969 square feet. Standard Land use parameters are
generally followed in DC Zoned areas, in the case of basic residential
development a DC area may use Hamlet Residential Guidelines (HR1). The bad part
is that unlike HR1 Residential Zoning, there is no ability to vary the bylaw
without it coming to Council for a decision to change the bylaw, which can be
time consuming and costly. Ordinary residential areas can go a little larger if
it makes sense and the proposal is within a development officer’s variance
ability without having to get before Council with a full Bylaw change. Since
there is an ability to appeal to the Development Appeal Board, a DC bylaw can’t
since it already has been varied and is unique.
In the past,
people have asked me how this can be changed. I have mentioned to people that
if a neighbourhood wants to change something, they should get together and let
me know what it is and I will bring it forward. Well, Richard and Shirley Brink
took me up on it, rallied the neighbourhood, got about 40 letters of support
and I brought a motion to Council to have DC97 changed to allow a single
building to be allowed to be as large as the maximum that the Bylaw allows (969
sq ft). My motion has passed and there will be a public hearing in September. If
there is enough support and not much opposition, it will most likely go through
and Hanson Park will get the change they want. Democracy at work, good for
those taking part. I hope it works out for everyone concerned. Thank you
Shirley and Richard for taking the effort to bring the communities desires
forward, you aren’t very many steps away from your decision. I look forward to
hearing any and all input at the public hearing.
If any of you
have the time and are affected please take part, if not, at least write down
your opinion and submit it to be part of the information that Council
considers, it is important for Council to get a good understanding of how the
residents feel about something before them, that is how good decisions get
made.
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