A plan to rezone a parcel of land in the Whissellville area drew around 30 residents to a public hearing last week.
The Municipal Affairs-mandated hearing at the Town of Westlock council meeting on Monday, Sept. 14 brought together people on both sides of what’s becoming a heated issue.
On one side of the debate was the current landowner and a potential buyer who are seeking to have the lot located at the corner of 96 Ave. and 111 St. rezoned from residential to light commercial. On the other side are area residents who oppose the rezoning.
“I’d like to know from council, if this goes through, are you going to substantially lower my taxes because my quality of life is affected?” asked Jacky Russell, who also said she was neither for nor against the development until more information was made available.
“I want to know that it’s not going to affect my life, I want to know there’s going to be no noise, I want to know hours of operation, there are so many things that can affect my life.”
Potential land buyer Ryan Snyder said that he intended to use the lot as a storage area for trailers. However, that didn’t sooth the concerns of some residents.
Linda Eckenswiller submitted a petition that had been signed by a number of residents and was seeking to have the rezoning denied on five grounds.
Issues like heavy vehicles accessing the site, noise and dust pollution and the impact on property values and the general look of the area were raised, as well as possible links with a nearby trailer sales business.
“It’s more a fabrication shop, right?” questioned Eckenswiller. “I guess that’s part of the reason that some of us are against it is because of paint fumes in the air and going over the fence to the residential.”
Previously Darrel Teske, the current landowner, had sought to have the lot rezoned heavy industrial but council denied that a few weeks ago and he subsequently withdrew his application.
Teske then submitted a new request to have the land designated light industrial that led to the public hearing.
The municipality has placed a number of provisions on the land if it were to be rezoned including the placement of a tree line along areas where the potential industrial zone meets residential space.
During his opportunity to speak, Teske took issue with a number of complaints by the opposed residents, including theoretical fumes and the unsightly nature of a trailer storage lot.
“I’ve gone into some of your homes and the very same people who are going to lecture me on a bit of progress … have no problem with cigarette smoke,” he said.
“The interesting thing is that for the last several years I have had to really request that a lot of people who live in the area don’t park their RV units or cars and please don’t use that field as a dump.
“You have to be careful as to what sort of message your going to relay,” he added.
Samantha Porter, who also opposed the use of the land as a trailer storage lot, said that such a development would just compound the neighborhood’s existing problems.
“With all the junkies and drug dealers that are in Whissellville, having a bunch of empty trailers is just calling them out,” said Porter. “They’ll get broken into, there’ll be more crime, it’s ridiculous.”
Snyder later told the Westlock News that unless the land rezoning goes through, he has no need for the land and won’t buy it.
As a number of councillors pointed out, the industrial land in the area has to meet the residential land at some point and the current zoning of the lot in question sees heavy industrial placed hard up against potential houses.
Once the public involvement of the hearing was completed, councillors asked a number of questions of administration, including what the potential for the land might be once rezoned.
Town development services director Simone Wiley said the municipality wasn’t able to prepare for what the space might be used for in the future, only the rezoning question at hand.
After the public hearing, council passed the third reading of the bylaw required to change the land’s designation, meaning the final vote on the future of the land will come before council at a later date.
