MUCH of the discussion at the July 8 city council meeting surrounded variance permits and a zoning amendment.
The evening began with a public hearing about an application to rezone the lots at 4453, 4455, 4457 and 4459 Greig Ave. (on the corner of Greig and Clinton) from light industrial to C1-A mixed use.
Local lottery millionaire Bob Erb has purchased the lots and wants to build a structure containing retail on the bottom floor, including a spot for the Deviant Fibre clothing business and an antique store, and housing on the top floor.
Erb wasn’t on hand at council, but later described the building plan, as an “Eastern Renaissance, European style from the 1560s, Hansel and Gretel gingerbread type house ... a landmark type building.”
City chief administration officer Heather Avison told council at the hearing that types of development that are permitted on C1-A include business service establishments, financial institutions, home occupations, multi-family dwellings, offices, parkades, restaurants, retail stores and townhouses.
Nobody from the public showed up to protest the plan, and council found no reason to oppose the change.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” councillor Brian Downie said, because in that part of Terrace, “light industry is a thing of the past.”
Erb has also purchased a second set of lots also on Greig and almost across the street from the Skeena Liquor Store and says an undisclosed national franchise has expressed interest in that location.
However Erb also said the possibility remains that Deviant Fibre building could be built there, with this other franchise, which would also have several apartments upstairs, could be located on the first set of lots.
Two more items on council’s agenda involved bylaw amendments for trailer parks on Lakelse Ave. A lot at 4342 Lakelse Ave., where the old Dog and Suds used to be, is getting turned into an RV campground that will have room for 14 vehicles on a recreational, non-permanent basis.
New owner Don Kirkby plans to use the former Dog and Suds building for laundry and showers and wanted a variance to reduce the buffer zone between it and other facilities.
Located between the Bavarian Inn/Back Eddy Pub and Sonbadas, there was some debate at council over whether a trailer park is a good fit, however since the lot is already zoned service commercial, councillor Stacey Tyers and James Cordeiro reasoned to the rest of council that they really had no power to oppose the plan.
Councillor Bruce Bidgood said that,“it seems like an unusual use of the strip”, and Downie argued that council should consider making the owner provide a better plan for buffering the perimeter before they allow the variance.
After some debate, both this permit, as well as a third item, were granted through acceptance of the recommendations by council.
The third item was a variance permit for 4305 Lakelse Ave. to the Mobile Home Park Bylaw, applied for by Don Ritchey, president of the strata council that runs the Kermode Park community there.
Ritchey applied for a variance permit that would allow all modular homes in the strata community to be set on permanent concrete foundations.
After some discussion it was decided that allowing this for the whole strata community would save time in the future because several individuals had already applied for such variances, so a global approach seemed more expedient.