OLDS — Town of Olds council has approved a development permit for a vehicle salvage yard.
The business is to be located at 5703 48th Ave., the site of Sawatzky’s Auto Repair. The applicant/owner is Raja Kochar, Sharp Street Properties.
The development permit was approved during council’s Jan. 13 meeting.
Development officer Nathan Hill said vehicles would be taken to the property where they would be dismantled in an industrial building on the northwest portion of the parcel.
The proposal called for parts to be distributed through an online service.
Hill said anything not disposed of will be hauled off-site to a recycler.
“The applicant has told administration that vehicles will not be crushed on-site as such. Administration has included that as a condition of draft approval,” he said.
Hill noted that the application was distributed to 17 landowners and administrative staff didn’t receive any comments about it.
The draft development permit for the proposal contained 10 conditions for approval, including:
• Whole or otherwise functional motor vehicles shall not be displayed or sold,
• No manufacturing, repair, servicing or any similar use is authorized by this development permit,
• No crushing shall be carried out on the parcel,
• All fluids (oil, fuel, coolant, etc.) must be drained and stored in approved containment systems to prevent soil or groundwater contamination,
• No more than 40 vehicles shall be stored on the parcel at one time, and
• If development authorized by the development permit is not carried out within a year from the date of issue (of the permit) nor carried out with reasonable diligence, permit approval ceases.
Coun. Wanda Blatz expressed concern about the condition that fluids be stored in approved containment systems.
“Is there any inspection system in place for that to know that it is being done,” she asked.
“I don’t believe so,” Hill said. “On our level, this is normally captured by Alberta Environment & Protected Areas.”
“Perfect. OK, good,” Blatz said. “That’s what I was curious about. I was just a little concerned about that draining into our stormwater system, so if that whole process is in place, then I’m good with that.”
With that, council passed a motion by Coun. Dan Daley that approval for the development permit be given, subject to the conditions listed.
