WESTLOCK – Town of Westlock councillors had no appetite for a zoning change that would have allowed a shuttered, downtown-area church to become a pizza parlour.
Following a public hearing at their May 10 regular meeting, councillors voted unanimously against Consolidated Land Use Bylaw 2015-02, Amendment Bylaw 2021-10, which would have rezoned Lot 11, Block 25, Plan 7191ET from R1 low-density residential to commercial multi-purpose (CMP).
In a previous briefing to council, director of development services Krystle Fedoretz said the applicant wanted to rezone the property to transform the old Westlock Gospel Chapel into a pizza restaurant that would have provided take-out service, a seniors hot lunch/dinner menu and student hot-lunch program. The church, which stands at the corner of 104th Street and 102nd Avenue, has R.F. Staples School located at one end of the block and the Pembina Lodge half a block in the other direction.
“I’m not in favour of rezoning this, I think we need to keep the integrity of that area,” said Coun. Curtis Snell.
“I’m always for development and expanding the town, but I have to agree with Coun. Snell here. As pointed out there’s enough commercial properties in our town already that are vacant … I think they could do this elsewhere,” said Coun. John Shoemaker.
A handful of residents spoke against the change in person via Zoom, while written submissions were also received. All stated the restaurant would lead to more traffic congestion in the neighbourhood and pointed to other vacant commercial properties as better fits for a restaurant. No one spoke in favour of the amendment.
“Traffic is a major problem in this area,” said area resident Phyllis Frick, noting the high volume of student vehicles that park in the area, as well as the lack of a parking lot for the old church.
“And there are a number of empty and underused properties in the centre of town which could better serve the owners of the church property and would not disturb the residents of the neighbourhood.”
Added resident Melanie Stevens-Woronuik: “If you go down 102nd Street and see all of the trash littered all over the place, we’re concerned that will come to our corner as well. That’s a concern as we’d be the ones who’d have to clean that up. And what if the pizza place fails? If it does (and since the property was rezoned) it could become anything. Phyllis mentioned the bar on 99th Street … we really don’t want to live diagonally from a bar.”
The town’s land-use bylaw says a commercial multi-purpose zone is defined as a district that can “provide for a wide range of commercial and retail businesses and services at a medium intensity and which serve areas within and beyond the surrounding community and which are not suitable for downtown as well as highway corridor areas.”
Permitted uses within CMP include eating and drinking establishments, funeral homes and hotels, while a liquor store, service station or a shopping centre would be a discretionary use and be decided upon by the Municipal Planning Commission, not town council — the full list is on Page 89 of the town’s land-use bylaw. And while places of worship are included as a usage under CMP, CAO Simone Wiley said previously that the property in question has always been zoned residential — over time the municipality has tweaked its land-use bylaw and moved places of worship under CMP.
“Something like this would be an anomaly. And given the fact that if we look at what could go on to that land if it was rezoned — it could be anything from auctioneer to automotive repair shop, or a funeral home … it could be a lot of different things,” added Snell. “We have to think about what else could go in there.”
