Emily Plihal
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
At its regular council meeting on May 12, Town of Peace River council analyzed proposed changes to the Land-Use Bylaw (LUB) after residents had their chance to voice opinions in the LUB Review Survey.
The draft LUB was made public and available for review on Feb. 3, with a public survey conducted to get feedback on changes proposed to the original document.
“The survey was to gain input from residents and others who have an interest in Peace River’s land development and use and to have input into the LUB refresh and update,” explains Mayor Elaine Manzer.
“This is a major bylaw that will affect development standards for years and thus council and administration wanted to gain as much feedback as possible.”
The changes that the Town highlighted in the survey overall received high support from respondents, but there were some regulations of the draft LUB that they analyzed will require changes to meet the needs of the community. Some of the concerns indicated were regulations related to storage containers, landscaping, and RV parking in residential districts.
“There was support from survey respondents for changes to allow storage containers in more areas of town, including commercial, industrial and institutional-recreational areas,” says Manzer.
“Some would like more storage on their lots, and this is why the new LUB is considering allowing storage containers on certain lots in the downtown area.”
Manzer says council has yet to make a decision on whether the initially proposed two storage containers on downtown commercial lots will remain on the new LUB, a concern that was raised by respondents.
Part of the proposed LUB also requires new developments to ensure there is at least one tree per dwelling planted in the front yard. Respondents asked that an addition be made to the requirements, noting that the tree can be planted in either the front or rear yard.
“A large majority of people from the 2019 survey agreed that developments should include landscaping,” Manzer explains, noting why the requirement was added to the proposed LUB.
“The addition of trees keeps the town green looking which is attractive. It is also consistent with council’s strategic direction to make ‘An environment in Which People Want to Live’.”
Alternate approaches to the landscaping requirements include adding one or two shrubs per dwelling in the front yard, only requiring a tree for spec homes, and including a waiver to the requirement if the servicing to the house does not allow a minimum distance from service lines of three metres or greater.
“The thought is that if a homeowner is constructing their own house, they would already have a landscape plan for their lot,” explains Manzer.
One final notable recommendation from the public is a change to the limitation of the number of recreational vehicles that can be stored on residential property.
The proposed amendment by the Town was to allow two recreational vehicles on each residential property, a number that some respondents thought may be too high.
“These include vehicles that people would normally camp in, some residents would like to park them on their town lots,” Manzer says.
“The lots in town are relatively small, lots normally already require two parking stalls on the lot, and this would mean residents could park one and possibly two (depending on the bylaw) on their lots and a limit prevents a neighbourhood from looking like a RV parking lot.”
Next steps for the Town is finalizing the LUB to be presented for first reading, which is anticipated to be completed before this fall.