WESTLOCK — A new indoor playground at a long-shuttered downtown church, is one step closer to becoming reality after Town of Westlock councillors voted to redistrict a parcel of land and amend the municipality’s consolidated land-use bylaw.
At the July 10 regular meeting, councillors voted 6-0 to pass second and third readings of consolidated land-use bylaw 2022-12, amendment bylaw 2023-09 to rezone 10148 104 Street from R1 low-density residential district to R-NC residential neighbourhood commercial district — first reading passed June 12. Coun. Abby Keyes was absent.
During discussions Coun. Murtaza Jamaly noted the positive impact of the rezoning and how it may benefit future concepts as well.
“This is a great improvement to our land-use bylaw and I think it’s just a natural progression of our community,” said Jamaly. “This zoning class actually helps us not only for this parcel of land but in other parcels of land as discussed.”
Planning and development manager Danielle Pougher said the town received two letters of support and one phone call from an adjacent landowner who had no concerns with the amendment. She also provided a review of the proposed consolidated land-use bylaw 2022-12, amendment bylaw 2023-09 including the needed amendments to councillors.
The first amendment, the addition of a new land-use district (R-NC) will allow for neighbourhoods to have commercial business activity while providing for a variety of housing options, said Pougher, adding the district has been drafted with regulations intended to reduce the impact of non-residential uses on the surrounding neighbourhood, including enhanced architectural features, screening with fencing, height differentials of no more than one story and restricting non-commercial parking and accesses to rear yards. The second amendment enables the addition of a new use class, indoor playground, that includes a definition of indoor playground and the last amendment introduces new parking requirements specific to the indoor playground use.
She also noted the property falls within the mature neighbourhood policy area in the town’s municipal development plan and the proposed bylaw meets a number of the objectives including the diversification of housing types, strategic in-fill and the adaptive re-use and re-investment in underutilized land, to maximize the efficient use of land and municipal services. Neighbourhood commercial re-development is also encouraged in this policy area “where it would enhance the liveability of existing neighbourhoods.”
Public hearing
Prior to its passing, a public hearing was held where two residents spoke on the amendment. Ron Cust, acting as an agent for the property owner Andre Depelteau of Rock Wood Steel Mfg, outlined the three options that were available when he purchased the property. The two discussed the indoor playground after meeting with Moriah Hickey and later in speaking with the town, Cust learned there might be an opportunity “to have it rezoned and that rezoning would then minimize the impact on the neighbourhood.”
Speaking to council, Hickey noted the indoor playground will provide a safe place for caregivers and children to meet, develop their social skills and keep them active and healthy year-round. She is a stay-at-home mom who fosters and works with many at-risk families in the community and works closely with children’s services.
“I definitely notice there is a gap in our community,” said Hickey. “I know a lot of it has to do with no place for parents to connect with their kids so my hope was to have an indoor playroom. We want to start small and see how the community comes around to it.”
The playroom will be set up like a “pre-school room style” with climbing structures, learning apparatus as well as a sensory room for special needs kids, noted Hickey, describing the relaxed, welcoming atmosphere they want to provide for families to help them connect with their kids, including families who may need a space for visits.
“There’s no place in town to have visits so even for parents to be able to do that and not have to sit in a McDonald’s for three or four hours to try to connect with your kids would be amazing,” she said.
Hickey also said they are hoping to be open in the evenings and on weekends to help accommodate working families.
“That way working parents can still enjoy time with their kids because that’s a big gap that we’re seeing … and a lot of the play groups don’t do weekends and evenings so we’re hoping to hit that missed gap too,” she said.
Council discussion
Following the public hearing, councillors asked several questions ranging from safety standards on climbing structures, parking issues, its financial model and how families would pay to use the playroom and days and hours of operation.
Jamaly also asked if there was an opportunity to change the zoning of other properties down the line.
“This is the perfect example of a piece of property that can be utilized in the middle of a residential district for other things that are still compatible with residential uses,” said CAO Simone Wiley, noting an example of a personal service. “That could be massage, (it’s) a great example of that. That doesn’t detract from the residential character of a neighbourhood but still can fit in there without any incompatibility.”
Mayor Ralph Leriger asked in addition to permitted uses, if there were any discretionary uses in this land-use class and what mechanism there was to prevent a commercial development that isn’t suitable for a residential area.
“For example, general detail is a discretionary use so that’s one that can be a pretty broad category and being a discretionary use, it would then go to a municipal planning commission (MPC) who would look at all of the merits of that particular application and determine whether it was compatible or not with the residential character of the neighbourhood,” explained Wiley.
Pougher added that if discretionary uses are approved, the MPC has the ability to add “any conditions that you need to on the permit approval to ensure that they stay within the scope of the use and add anything additional you need to do to buffer any potential impacts.”
