OLDS — Town council has approved a couple of bylaws to clear the way for the Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society (MVESS) to build an emergency shelter on town-owned land leased to them.
The land is located on a triangular piece of property at the south end of 50th Avenue at 54th Street.
The two bylaws amend the Uptowne Olds Area Redevelopment Plan and the town’s land use bylaw to enable the shelter to be built there.
Council gave approval to both amending bylaws during its April 11 meeting.
The Town of Olds did receive one concern, from CP Rail. Its railway runs adjacent to the property.
In an email to municipal planner Kyle Sloan, Cyrus Njung of CP Rail’s titles and plans department wrote that the company “not in favour of residential uses adjacent to our right-of-way as this land use is not compatible with railway operations.
“The health, safety and welfare of future residents could be adversely affected by railway activities.”
Coun. Wanda Blatz expressed concern about that position.
She said her understanding is in order to satisfy CP’s concern, the development would have to be about 90 feet away from the railway’s property line and that a berm or retaining wall might have to be built.
Councillors Dan Daley and Heather Ryan echoed that concern.
"We reached out to CP for further comment, explaining the purpose of the shelter, that it’s not a permanent residence,” James Crozier, the town’s manager of planning and infrastructure, said.
“As of yet, we haven’t heard back on any clarifications. We have looked at the offsets that they’ve asked for. We don’t see that as being an impact. That’s what I can say at this point in time.”
Ryan also wanted to ensure a discussion is held with the MVESS to find out “whether or not they want to reconfigure where the buildings will be on that lot so it proceeds in a safe manner.”
When it came time to give final approval to both bylaws, Ryan was the lone councillor to vote against each.
The Albertan asked her why.
Ryan noted that last September, MVESS asked council to essentially double the amount of land set aside for the shelter.
When the issue first arose, MVESS spokesman Joe Carignan said the land made available was not enough to allow for long-term expansion of the shelter, provide a playground for children, and be sited far enough from the railway tracks that noise would not be as much of an issue.
Council later did vote to expand the land made available from 0.64 of an acre to 1.2 acres.
Years ago, the Town of Olds set aside land for the emergency shelter near the RCMP building but later decided against that.
Ryan issued a prepared statement on her decision to vote against the two bylaws.
“I voted against the change to the land use bylaw because, as I stated when this was first presented to council, this is town-owned land and I felt the value and possible future uses needed to be reviewed before allocating a second parcel for this use.
“Let me be clear, I support the need for the Mountain View Emergency Shelter and its location on the first parcel designated for it in this location, but my concern is that designating the full front section of the property may limit other future uses for the remainder of the land, so I could not support the bylaw(s).”
