Monarch subdivision application approved by council

By Heather Cameron
Sunny South News

During the County of Lethbridge Council Meeting that took place on February 1, Hilary Janzen, Manager of Planning and Development for Lethbridge County, and Steve Harty, Senior Planner at the Oldman River Regional Services Commission presented a subdivision application to Council. 

The application, Janzen said, is in the hamlet of Monarch just off of Eastman Road, on the south side of Monarch, and it is to subdivide a 0.44 acre title into two equal lots being 0.22 acres each in side. Janzen stated that the proposed subdivision does meet the criteria of the Land Use Bylaw: the parcel size exceeds the minimum parcel size allowed within the hamlets, there is ample water and sewer access in this particular hamlet, and it was also identified in the Hamlet Growth Study as a parcel that could be split. 

Harty concurred that the application is to accommodate some more exciting growth in the hamlet of Monarch and the applicant wishes to split into two equal lots. The proposed lots, Harty said, will create two good sized residential lots that are 80 by 120 ft. that exceed the bylaw minimum size, and other than one shed/garage accessory building, the present parcel is vacant after a former manufactured home was removed in July 2023. The resulting lots, Harty said, will enable two new residential dwellings to be constructed in the hamlet. Both of the proposed lots, Harty said, have direct access to Eastman Road with an existing approach in place for the east lot and a culvert installed to accommodate an additional driveway to the west lot, and there is one existing municipal water and sewer connection for the east lot while the west lot would require an additional connection, which is possible with the provision of municipal water and sewer services in the hamlet. The cost of connecting to the municipal water and sewer for the vacant new west lot will be at the expense of the developer. 

Council asked if the new lots are going to be subject to the connection fee that existing laws have in regard to putting in new lines, as there were some that deferred payments until they developed and ran up a lot of money.  Janzen and Harty said that there is no outstanding venture holding in Monarch. They both stated that everybody who’s paid won’t be subject to it. 

Council ultimately made a motion to approve, and approved the subdivision application subject to the conditions outlined in the draft resolution.