ICYMI: Daysland Land Use Bylaw draft requires public input
On Thursday, March 31, around 30 Daysland residents gathered in the Community Hall for a public open house and workshop regarding the Land Use Bylaw.
The evening was led by Lyndsay Francis and Jane Dauphinee of Municipal Planning Services.
A previous public meeting was held in 2014 in order to outline the process of developing a new Land Use Bylaw for Daysland.
“This public meeting was to outline how far we’ve come,” said CAO Rod Krips.
The Land Use Bylaw (LUB) is designed to be readable and accessible to users, and will be consistent with the Town’s Municipal Development Plan.
The LUB is in place to define different types of land uses and specific terms of use; outlines when development permits are required; provides information about approval, amendment, and appeal processes; regulates how developments will be built on sites; and ensures that land uses and developments that could be harmful if close together are separate.
The LUB is different from a Municipal Development Plan, as the LUB deals with current use and development, while the Municipal Development Plan deal with future land use and development.
Dauphinee and Francis discussed the major changes that have been done to the LUB, beginning with an expanded and updated list of definitions for General Administrative Procedures, as well as the addition of more graphics for clarity and reference.
The current LUB has 191 definitions in this category, and the draft of the new LUB contains 377 at this point.
The Agencies section has also been updated, and now clearly identifies the roles and responsibilities of the Development Authority, Council, Subdivision Authority, and Subdivision Appeal Board.
In the Development Permits, Rules, and Procedures section, the list of developments not requiring a permit was clarified and expanded. Several new subsections were added, including Non-Conforming Buildings and Uses, which clarifies how non-conforming buildings and uses are to be addressed.
Other new subsections include Demolition, Referral of Applications, Decision Process and Re-Application, and Development Permits and Notices.
The Appeals section was altered in order to clarify the right of Appeal for Direct Control Districts, as well as the requirements for appeal applications.
The General and Special Provisions sections were expanded as well.
Under the Special Provisions, there have been alterations made in order to limit the amount of recreation vehicles that can be stored in a front yard, and there are new provisions for campgrounds.
There is also now a section for the development of certain additional dwelling units on residential properties.
The existing LUB was adopted in 2010, and changes in the Town and surrounding region since that time require changes to be made to the legislation.
“The complete draft bylaw has been uploaded to our website,” said Krips.
Residents of Daysland are asked to bring any questions, concerns, or issues they may have with the draft to Francis and Dauphinee at Municipal Planning Services.
From there, they will be brought before Council in order to make any necessary changes to the draft before it is adopted.
Megan Lockhart
Associate Editor
