OLDS – On June 10, town council will hold a public hearing on a proposed bylaw amendment that would allow residential suites to be built in the basement of the former Stevens Jewellers building.
Council made that decision during its May 13 meeting. The public hearing will begin at 1 p.m. in council chambers. The building is located at the corner of 50th Avenue and 50th Street. The street address is 5018 50th Ave.
Municipal planner Kyle Sloan told council the proposed change will not only affect the former Stevens Jewellers building but also all other properties in the entire C1 district, which is in Uptowne Olds.
Council gave the proposed bylaw first reading in order to set up the public hearing.
“The owner is looking to do a mixed-use development to add some residential suites in the basement,” Sloan said during a presentation to council.
He said the land use bylaw amendment is needed because currently, its definition of mixed-use-commercial-at-grade uses only allows for residential uses above commercial uses, not below them.
Sloan noted that similar applications have been made before, so town staff thought it would be efficient to craft a change to the land use bylaw that would be more “flexible.”
He said the goal is to maintain the vision of the area’s Uptowne Area Redevelopment Plan to preserve street-facing frontages as commercial storefronts, restaurants, retail and other businesses, yet still enable residential uses above or below those storefronts.
The idea is also to enable administrative staff to approve such projects, rather than having to come to council for approval of each one on an individual basis.
Sloan said to his recollection, a similar development was approved one or two years ago, allowing residential space on the ground floor facing the alley, while the ground floor space at the front of the building remained commercial.
Coun. Darren Wilson wondered if there’ll be a door to enable tenants to get in and out of the basement and building.
Sloan said yes. It’s his belief that that door will be installed at ground level at the rear of the building.
Coun. James Cummings liked the proposed bylaw change, saying it will reflect current reality.
“Having operated businesses in the Uptowne, there’s a crap-ton of residential units at grade level in the Uptowne area, so it doesn’t seem far-fetched to me to just change the land use bylaw to allow that generally in the entire area,” he said.
“That seems productive rather than having to deal with every single situation.
“I mean, my daughter lives in an apartment at grade level behind a business in an alleyway in Uptowne with all of her neighbours, so it’s not an oddity thing at all.
“I’m just happy that we’re actually changing the land use bylaw to include the entire area.”
The building was sold after Stevens Jewellers owner Phil Stevens retired in 2018, selling off his inventory.
