DC rezoning proposed for Malloy lands

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

A rezoning amendment is being sought for land left unused after construction related to the Malloy Drain project.

During their regular June 12 meeting, Coaldale town council reviewed a Land Use bylaw amendment.

LUB Rezoning Amendment 874-P-06-23 concerns a portion of land, located at SE9-09-20-W4, that was initially purchased by the town in order to construct the south portion of Phase 2(a) of the Malloy Drain stormwater holding project. As part of the sale of the portion of land, the town had agreed to sell back the unused portions of the land to their former owner, Jon Van Hierden, once the project was completed.

The town received subdivision approval necessary to resell these lands to Van Hierden. One condition for the subdivision was that the lands in question were to be reincorporated back into the adjacent piece to the west, rather than creating a stand-alone title, as the creation of a new acreage space would not be in line with the expected urban style development of the area. An Area Structure Plan for the area is currently in the staff review phase.

However, although Van Hierden accepts that a new acreage is not the long-term intention of the subdivision, he would prefer not to incorporate the lands into the remainder of the quarter section. Those lands are owned by a related entity, and Van Hierden does not have full ownership of it.

Rezoning the parcel to Direct Control (DC) would solve the resulting planning challenge and ensure that no construction is approved for the site until the lands are further subdivided in line with an approved ASP. Van Hierdan indicated he was in favour of the proposal.

“This is a little bit different than a typical rezoning for us, this is more of an administrative solution to a broader problem,” said Cameron Mills, director of growth and investment for the town. “By placing the Direct Control district as a temporary measure, we can solve the problem of ensuring that the parcel doesn’t sort of get in the way of future development, while also solving Mr. Jon Van Hierden’s problem of the issue of the ownership of this parcel versus that parcel.

“Administratively, we are very comfortable with this solution, knowing that within a span of five years or so, we’re likely to see this go away and have a more constructive zoning in place.”

If council does approve the rezoning, administration would then go back to the Municipal Planning Commission for an amendment for the subdivision approval.

Council unanimously performed first reading for the LUB Rezoning Amendment 874-P-06-23.