After months of work and a public hearing the Town of Golden has made the decision to take another look at Zoning Bylaw No. 1294. The council unanimously voted to rescind the second reading so that they could make possible changes in the future before the bylaw would come into effect.
“I will begin by saying it has been a very long and arduous process moving through this bylaw. I think it was initially our intention to have this completed by the end of our term. Since we have begun we are now on our second town planner and an almost entirely new management team. I am pleased to see we have got to a place where we have a document that I will be able to say the vast majority is supported by council,” said Coun. Caleb Moss. “There are still parts of it that I think council, from our internal discussions, have concerns about. I think we would be remiss not to consider those.”
Moss put forward a motion to move to a committee of the whole meeting where council could discuss issues such as daycare and building height restrictions in the downtown core along with many other issues stemming from the public hearing held in October.
Coun. Chris Hambruch spoke after the motion was made, to say he agreed this was the right move for the Town of Golden, siting the importance of having the right bylaw created for the residents.
The proposed new Zoning Bylaw, if enacted, will repeal existing Zoning Bylaw No. 911, 1993 in its entirety. It applies to and affects all land within the Town of Golden, containing regulations affecting land use, density, setbacks, minimum lot sizes, location and size of buildings and structures, and landscaping.
During the same meeting Chief Administrative Officer, David Allen, presented his quarterly report to the council and those in attendance. The purpose of the presentation was to give an update on the Town’s 2011 strategic priorities and budget variances to Sept. 30, 2011.
Allen went step by step through dozens of projects which the town has been involved in, laying out how far they have been completed while at the same time also keeping track of how the initial budget was holding up. Of the 33 council priority projects being worked on, 23 were completed or on track to be completed by the end of 2011 with the other 10 being shifted to 2012, or in two cases, the projects were delayed or pulled by outside agencies.
Of the 33 projects, 23 were on budget, six came in under budget, with the final four being over budget.
The town has also been working on another 38 projects with most being completed or near completion.
