M.L. council votes against duplex development

A development from Tupper’s construction which would have seen 11 duplexes (22 dwellings) built on Third St. E. in Meadow Lake has been denied by city council on a six to one vote.

Diana Burton, city manager said the development drawings showed it to be a cul-de-sac road with a single driveway and garage for resident parking.

“(Council felt) there would be no room for parking other than the driveways and garages. (The) concern was it would spill out to Third St. E. where there isn’t the capacity to have cars parked on the side of the road,” Burton said.

Despite council rejecting the development partially on parking issues, Burton said the application covered all the minimum requirements in terms of parking space, water and sewer services.

During the May 9 regular council meeting, residents concerns were raised over space for the homes, availability of parking as well as services.

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“Often times there’s a concern when a new development goes in a neighborhood, people are concerned on how it affects them and their property. Often the concerns are just residents not wanting them in their area,” Burton said adding the developers weren’t in attendance to answer any questions on the proposal, which is different than one previously pitched.

“Council previously accepted a different sub-division plan for that land which would have seen 12 lots with single family houses on it. But the developer decided to change the configuration of the sub-division plan for 11 lots that would only allow semi-detached duplexes which increased the density of it from 12 single family houses to 22 units,” Burton said.

The denial means the contractor won’t be able to build the duplex homes now but it doesn’t deter the company from re-applying for another discretionary building permit.

“The developer could go and look to do something like a mix of semi-detached dwellings and single family dwellings that would take the density of the parcel of land down and council could reconsider it. Or they could choose to decrease the number of units and it goes through the process again,” Burton said.

At the meeting, council said they would rather see eight or nine built there, but not 11.

The lone supporter of the development, Mayor Gary Vidal mayor didn’t say why he supported the project, but added at the end of the day he has to support the decision of the group.

“I think they made the right choice,” he said. “I would have been interested to see if there was a way we could have put appropriate conditions on it but in retrospect I’m 100 per cent confident council made the right decision.”

cswiderski@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @coltonswiderski