Subdividing property within District of Clearwater is getting easier.
During their July 12 meeting, municipal council members voted to delegate authority to exempt a parcel from the minimum parcel frontage requirements to the District’s approving officer during the subdivision process.
Council also approved establishing a $100 processing fee for requests to vary the minimum parcel frontage requirements.
All parcels of land being created by subdivision are required to have a minimum width of frontage on a public road, explained interim chief administrative office Leslie Groulx in a report to council.
The purpose of the requirement is to ensure that the parcel being created has sufficient frontage to allow practical and safe access to the parcel and to accommodate any require servicing, such as electric power, telephone, water and sewer.
The Local Government Act specifies that the minimum frontage be 10 per cent of the lot’s perimeter, or the minimum frontage established by the local government bylaw.
Situations where the frontage requirements might be waived would include pie-shaped parcels with frontage on a cul-de-sac or long, narrow lots. Groulx pointed out that panhandle lots are often used to reduce the road-to-lot ratio but the panhandle must be wide enough to accommodate a public road.
She also wrote that waiving the frontage requirement is usually straightforward and not worth wasting council’s time over.
Council also approved a graduated system of fees for development applications.
The intent is that the new system will encourage developers to subdivide their property all at once, rather than do it piecemeal over a number of years.
