As Yogi Berra famously said, "it's deja vu all over again" for Bowden town council.
On Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m., they'll be holding a public hearing for the second time to obtain input from community residents regarding a proposal to rezone three lots, including the old Lions Community Hall.
That change would enable Okotoks developer Kyle McCowan to renovate the hall to accommodate 26 apartment units.
The lots, at 2019 19th Ave., are 50 metres east of Highway 2A, southeast of the Bowden Hotel.
Council did hold a public hearing on the matter on July 8, but it was ruled invalid because first reading was given to a bylaw to rezone the land during a Municipal Planning Commission meeting, instead of in council.
During their July 22 meeting, councillors fixed that problem by giving first reading to an amended bylaw as council, instead of as the Municipal Planning Commission. So that's out of the way now.
It will be interesting to see how the public hearing shapes up this time.
Last time, only half an hour was allocated for the hearing. During the July 22 meeting, several councillors noted that was not really enough time, as residents still had things to say.
So this time around, the meeting will again start at 6:30 p.m., but if residents need more time to provide input, the regular council meeting scheduled to follow the public hearing will be delayed, perhaps not starting until 7:30 p.m. instead of its regular start time of 7 p.m., chief administrative officer Greg Skotheim says.
Another issue could be space.
About a dozen people showed up for the July 8 public hearing which was held in town council chambers. That's not a big room to begin with, so there was not a whole lot of extra room.
As of last week, Skotheim said the plan was still to hold the Aug. 12 hearing in those same chambers, despite the fact there's a good chance that more people will show up than did last time. If so, things could get pretty crowded.
The other issue is clarity of the rules.
Last time, there appeared to be some confusion about what residents could say and whether or not they could grill councillors about the matter. Hopefully things will be clearer this time around.
Decisions on what type of housing can be located where can be a touchy subject.
As was evident last time around, concerns about housing density and the crime rate in Bowden are big issues.
Councillors expressed some sympathy with residents over those concerns. Yet at the same time, they've expressed a desire to see more affordable housing in the community.
It will be interesting to see how they square that circle -- if that can be done.
