OLDS — Town council has passed a bylaw allowing a piece of property at the corner of 50th St. and 54th Ave. in Olds to be rezoned from R1 (low density residential) to R3 (medium density residential). The address is 5402 - 50th St.
Council made that decision after a public hearing on the application, held during its Nov. 12 meeting.
Development officer Kyle Sloan told council that the community’s municipal development plan calls for that land to remain residential, “but it does not specify a certain district or density for this parcel.”
“There’s no redevelopment plan in place for this area,” he added.
Sloan also noted that land surrounding that property has “quite a range of different zones,” including another R3 parcel as well as highway commercial.
Coun. Darren Wilson wondered what the landowner plans to do with the property.
Sloan said the landowner is looking at developing at least a fourplex, but not an apartment building, to his knowledge.
Sloan noted that the bylaw enabling the zoning change received first reading during council’s Oct. 15 meeting.
The proposal to do so was advertised on the Town of Olds' website as well as in the Albertan for a couple of weeks.
It was also circulated to seven neighbouring property owners “and we have not received any correspondence regarding this.”
Mayor Judy Dahl asked the gallery if anyone wanted to speak for or against the amending bylaw. No one did.
Coun. James Cummings picked up on Sloan’s statement that there is no redevelopment plan for the area that the land in question is located in.
He asked how old neighbourhoods generally are before a redevelopment plan is created for them.
Sloan said there’s no particular age that triggers creation of such plans.
However, “when you start to see infill redevelopment where the original housing stock is being demolished and replaced by newer redevelopment it would be ideal to have an area redevelopment plan in place to guide that,” he said.
