September 7, 2011
Town to ease highway
restrictions?
by Vance Gutzman
Deep River appears poised to lift some restrictions regarding
commercial development along its highway corridor.
The easing of the restrictions comes as the town continues the process
of reviewing its Official Plan, which describes how land in the
municipality should be used.
Municipalities are mandated by the province to review their official
plans every five years.
Deep River's official plan review committee has been doing just that
since the beginning of this year, and recently brought forward a couple
of important issues it is looking at for council's attention.
"In most cases, the committee was able to discuss issues that arose and
come to a conclusion as to what they wish to recommend to council and
to the public," the town's planning and development director, John
Walden, stated in his report to council.
"But there were a couple of issues on which the committee felt it was
important to get council's input before moving forward with the
official plan process."
The first of those issues concerns the types of businesses which are
permitted along the highway on land that is designated as Business Park
in the official plan.
Financial institutions, public buildings and institutions, places of
worship and small-scale retail and commercial operations (under 1,500
square feet on a stand-alone basis) are currently not permitted there.
"In previous official plans and zoning bylaws, there have been efforts
to limit the types of businesses allowed on the highway corridor,"
Walden stated in his report to council.
"The theory has been that the highway commercial area is appropriate
for larger operations that will not fit downtown, or businesses that
will benefit from highway traffic and tourism, like hotels and
restaurants."
Walden went on to note that Deep River's downtown area has generally
been considered to be the appropriate location for grocery stores,
retailers which mostly serve the local population and similar services.
"Policies deriving from this approach have protected the downtown core
by ensuring that it is maintained as the location for fulfilling local
market needs," he stated.
The town has two options with respect to the issue, Walden told council
- leave the section of the official plan the way it is, or eliminate it
completely.
"This would mean that any commercial activity or service would be
acceptable in either of our two commercial areas," he stated.
"There would likely be no immediate impact, but there could be
significant impact over time."
Restrictive
The general consensus around the council table over the options which
Walden brought to said table was that the current restrictions are,
well, restrictive.
"It's a restrictive list," Councillor Terry Myers said, pointing out
that there are two places of worship just outside the Business Park
zone, easterly along the highway within town limits.
Myers added that commercial development along the Business Park part of
the highway corridor would already have checks and balances placed upon
it by the Ministry of Transportation, which controls entranceways off
the highway.
"I'm not sure this section as written really does much to protect our
downtown," he said.
Mayor David Thompson concurred with that sentiment.
"Business goes where it's profitable. I would take the restrictions
off," the mayor said.
"If a business needs highway traffic to survive, why would we deny them
the right to that?"
The official plan review committee, chaired by Councillor Daniel Banks,
will take council's comments into consideration as it continues its
work.
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