Site specific property amending bylaw defeated

Olds town council has defeated a site specific amending bylaw that would allow a house to be replaced on a specific piece of property in land zoned highway commercial.

The property is located at 4522 47th Ave., just north of Highway 27.

Municipal planner Kim Soutiere told council the property owner asked for redesignation of that land because they were having difficulty selling the home.

The proposed change would allow the home to be replaced, but only a single-family detached house would be allowed. Other structures, such as duplexes or high rises would not be allowed.

Soutiere also stressed the proposed bylaw would not prevent commercial development on that lot in the future, although in order for that to happen, the town would have to rescind the amendment.

Coun. Wade Bearchell opposed the proposed amending bylaw during a public hearing.

"If you change this, assuming a single-family residence is put in there – a new one – then you basically have the potential of screwing up this whole highway commercial project," he said, although he sympathized with the property owner's desire to sell their property.

"I think it sets a bad precedent," Bearchell said later. "I think that being that it's away (from Highway 27) there is a little bit of subjectivity I guess in some people's minds. But I feel it sets a bad precedent for us to be doing this. We've got mistakes made.

"Currently right now there might not be an issue, but 20 years down the road, it could be a significant issue. I don't believe that somebody would go and build a brand new single-family home in that particular location, given how busy it is in that type of area. However, I just don't see the logic behind doing this one-off in this case."

When the bylaw came up for second reading, the vote was tied. As a result, the motion was defeated.