WESTLOCK — As the town moves to create more housing for present and future residents, recent changes to the land use bylaw, are expected to help with that process.
At the Feb. 12 regular council meeting, councillors unanimously passed first reading of the bylaw and Town of Westlock CAO Simone Wiley, spoke about the need for land to develop additional housing and said that town staff have has identified a parcel of town-owned property as a potential location for a high-density residential development.
“We know that there is a need in our community for additional housing and land to accommodate it,” said Wiley, noting a report presented to council was to help “initiate a rezoning of this parcel of land.”
Planning and development manager Danielle Pougher noted the subject property for rezoning (Lot R, Block 6, Plan 4035 NY) is located in the Eastglen neighbourhood, and is a vacant park lot on 102 Street across from Oak Ridge Manor.
“We’ve had interest in finding land that would suit medium to high-density residential development such as townhomes or apartments,” said Pougher, noting the town does not currently have many sites that are able to accommodate that type of development, whether it’s the size, being shovel ready, having the correct services or statutory plans in place.
“Whereas this lot was identified as one that could be made shovel ready quickly and would be appropriately sized for that type of development,” she added. “So the purpose of the rezoning is to allow for that parcel to be ready for sale in order to facilitate that development.”
Pougher noted the land falls under the mature neighbourhood policy area in the Municipal Development Plan and the redistricting of this lot meets many of the objectives of that plan area “including the opportunity to provide a variety of housing types, especially those that are more affordable,” she noted, adding it’s also an efficient reuse of underutilized property.
“ … it may not necessarily be used to its best purpose, right now it’s not a very actively used park area so its highest and best use might be suited better to a medium to high-density residential development,” explained Pougher, noting similarly districted lands in the surrounding neighbourhood as well as other low-density residential (lands) and pointed out its proximity to the highway-commercial district.
“All those things make it ideal for rezoning under the municipal development plan,” said Pougher.
A public hearing date has been set for March 11, prior to second and third readings.
