麻豆传媒AV

Yorkton Council has taken the first steps toward rezoning 20-acres of land south of Maple Farm Equipment as Commercial.

The land is currently zoned Parks and Recreation.

Michael Eger, Planner with the City explained the Planning and Engineering Department received a request for the changes in order to develop an agricultural sales and service establishment.

The change required an amendment to the City's Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and the Zoning Bylaw. Both amendments received unanimous first reading passage at the regular meeting of Council Monday.

Eger said, "The MDP calls for future development of the subject property in 2020 -2025. However, the MDP was adopted in 2003 and the land development situation within Yorkton has changed significantly over the last eight years. The City has very little serviced commercial land available for sale and is in need of opening new areas to commercial development.

"Additionally, a large portion of the subject property is intended to be used as an Agricultural Sales and Service Establishment. It is understood that this use would compliment and serve as an extension of Maple Farm Equipment."

The similarity of business is an important aspect of the change, said Eger.

"It is desirable for the City to cluster uses of this nature, and forcing this development to another location is not viable option for the owner. Consideration of the change in use to Commercial would also help to foster development within the remainder of the quarter section," he said.

Eger did add there were some additional considerations regarding the land."While Commercial development is desirable within the subject property, the City has to be mindful of the close proximity of the shallow aquifer to the south and east, known as the Logan East System. To date, the exact location of the aquifer is unknown. As such, it will be recommended under the rezoning application that the subject property be given an Environmentally Sensitive Overlay. This will help to ensure that contamination risks to the aquifer are mitigated and that's done through the Development Permit process," he said.

The amendments will now be advertised to allow public input before receiving second and third reading.