MUCH of the discussion at last night’s city council meeting surrounded variance permits and a zoning amendment.
The evening began with a public hearing about the rezoning application for lots side by side at 4453, 4455, 4457 and 4459 Grieg Ave. to have them rezoned from light industrial to C1-A mixed use.
Local lottery millionaire Bob Erb has purchased the lots and wants to build a structure containing retail on the bottom floor, including a spot for the Deviant Fibre clothing business, and housing on the top floor.
The city’s chief administration officer Heather Avison, who was filling in for director of development services David Block at last night’s council meeting, said the owner did not specify on his application what purpose the land would be used for, but she did list the types of development that are permitted on C1-A, which includes business service establishments, financial institutions, home occupations, multi-family dwellings, offices, parkades, restaurants, retail stores and townhouses.
Nobody from the public showed up to protest the plan, and council found no reason to oppose the change.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” councillor Brian Downie said, because in that part of Terrace “light industry is a thing of the past.”
Two more items on council’s agenda involved bylaw amendments for trailer parks on Lakelse Ave.
A lot at 4342 Lakelse Ave., where the old Dogs and Suds outdoor diner used to be, is getting turned into an RV campground that will have room for 14 vehicles on a recreational, non-permanent basis.
New owner Don Kirkby plans to use the small old building for laundry and showers, and he has applied for the variance permit to lower the buffer zone with adjacent buildings from 3 to 1 metres.
Located between the Bavarian Inn/Back Eddy Pub and Sonbadas, a Greek restaurant, there was some debate over whether a trailer park is a good fit, however since the lot is already zoned service commercial councillor Stacey Tyers and James Cordeiro reasoned to the rest of council that they really had no power to oppose the plan, except with regards to the variance permit.
Councillor Bruce Bidgood said that,“it seems like an unusual use of the strip”, and Downie argued that council should consider making the owner provide a better plan for buffering the perimetre before they allow the variance.
Both this permit, as well as a third item, were granted last night through acceptance of the recommendations by council.
The third item was a variance permit for 4305 Lakelse Ave. to the Mobile Home Park Bylaw, applied for by Don Ritchey, president of the strata council that runs the Kermode Park community there and helps them make collective decisions.
Ritchey applied for a variance permit that would allow all modular homes in the strata community to be set on permanent concrete foundations and also the use of mobile homes.
After some discussion it was decided that allowing this for the whole strata community would save time in the future because several individuals had already applied for such variances, so a global approach seemed more expedient. With the Skeena River and forest on one half and roaded hill on the other, there are no neighbours within 50 feet who need to be consulted.
