The Red Deer County Municipal Planning Commission approved a temporary development permit for a business located adjacent to Highway 2 east of Innisfail.The business, selling mainly skidsteers, backhoes, manlifts and gravel trucks, will face the highway and operate Monday to Saturday.Administration recommended the permit should be denied because the municipal development plan indicates new industrial and commercial development should be located in industrial parks.Owner Jody Bouvier said he's operated the business from his home for the last nine years and it's started to grow.ìThe location we're at has other businesses there,î he said. ìAnother businesses was just approved to the north of us Ö It's suitable for this type of business considering its proximity to Highway 2,î he said.Council members agreed.ìNeighbours live very close to where Jody is and they have no complaints. And just north (of his location) an RV storage facility did go in Ö I completely support this,î said Div. 3 Coun. Penny Archibald.Council approved the temporary permit that will expire in 2016 subject to approval from Alberta Transportation for a roadside development permit.Boundary shape puzzles councilCouncil deferred a decision that would subdivide 6.75 hectares of land because of concerns over the shape of the proposed boundaries.The proposed parcel, north of Markerville on agricultural land that contains a garage, shop and grain bins, has a more triangular shape than the preferred square.ì(The application says it) follows the fence line that is in place. I've Ö done some fencing and I don't want to see calves caught back there. I don't think it's a good way to farm so I'd like to see it squared up,î said Div. 5 Coun. Richard Lorenz.Larry Watson, speaking on behalf of the landowners, said the boundaries proposed follow a natural boundary that follows a ridgeline along the trees.ìSomebody's not (just) making this odd weird shape ñ there must be a reason there. I would really like to understand the reasoning,î said Div. 2 Coun. Don Nesbitt.Council agreed to defer approval until they heard more about the parcel's topography.Church eyes Sylvan Lake for expansionA Catholic Church is expected to be constructed in Sylvan Lake adjacent to Highway 11A and 60 Street within the next five years.Both county council and Sylvan Lake council support the location of the 10-acre parcel within the boundary of the draft Red Deer County and Town of Sylvan Lake Intermunicipal Development Plan area.ìThis has sat for a very long time ñ our IDP has sat infinitely longer than I thought,î said county manager Curtis Herzberg, who recommended approval.ìIf in the future the church decides it can't afford to build and the property was resold to somebody, from what I understand it'll stay agriculture Ö Potentially a home could go there in the worst-case scenario,î said Div. 2 Coun. Don Nesbitt.Council approved the subdivision for the Our Lady of Assumption Church unanimously. The church intends to purchase the parcel and begin development within five years.
