MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The municipal planning commission (MPC) has presented a report to Mountain View County council identifying several areas of concern and challenge it believes councillors may wish to examine going forward.
The MPC is the county’s development approving authority, made up of county councillors and appointed public members.
The commission’s annual review report, written by chairman Gerald Ingeveld and approved by commission members, was presented to council at a recent regularly-scheduled council meeting.
In his report, chairman Ingeveld identified dog kennel applications as something council may wish to examine vis-a-vis current guidelines.
“We had a few new, and some existing kennels reach our agendas, and some questions remain unanswered,” he said. “Specifically, the calculations for number of dogs applied for and approved.
“It would help if there was some criteria around the number of dogs based on size of facility (and/or) yard space. General conditions of approval usually required that all dogs be brought inside during evening hours, however square metre requirements for each animal is not considered. Some guidelines would be appreciated.”
The reports also identified some concerns regarding referrals from the National Resources Conservation Board (NRCB).
“NRCB referrals have raised some questions and concerns, particularly around increased water usage for increasing number of livestock. Council or the agricultural service board may wish to purse these concerns further with councillor (Peggy) Johnson.”
Johnson is one of the current council members on the commission.
Applications regarding bunkhouses was also identified as something council may want to look into, and specifically regarding bunkhouses for farm workers.
“The bylaw talks about a bunkhouse that may house up to 20 workers. This many people introduced into a community should perhaps trigger a pre-circulation to adjacent landowners prior to a decision on the file,” he said.
Council accepted the MPC 2024 year-end review report as information.
