Mink Creek Road mobile home park rezoning

The Town of Whitecourt Municipal Planning Commission held a regular meeting on November 17 to discuss Bylaw Amendment 1506-3, an application to rezone The Meadows Manufactured Home Park at the end of Mink Creek Road.

Wendy Grimstad-Davidson, Manager of Planning and Development, opened the meeting and discussions followed to better explain the changes to the committee members. In response to a question concerning the issues leading up to needing the rezoning, Davidson responded “because they condominiumized they can have some special considerations for road widths and internal services which we require for manufactured home parks,” adding that “the biggest thing was the pond and having increased setbacks for the high water levels.  The levels impact some of the properties so we want a greater setback than what is required under the MHP (Mobile Home Park) zoning especially for one lot in particular.”

The committee approved a motion to forward their comments to town council, moving the rezoning plan to the next required step.

The Municipal Planning Commission is made up of public members and council members including Councillor Derek Schlosser. “We look at all the development that comes through the town for approval from the committee and we forward our recommendations to town council. Today we did a recommendation to rezone a mobile home park into direct control.” Schlosser added that every kind of development that doesn’t go direct through management goes through the Municipal Planning Committee.

Schlosser mentioned that the committee has been quite busy this year with several big projects, “The new school is a huge project for us down on Mink Creek Road. That whole area is filling up and I suspect that within the next five years it’ll really fill up with people. So, that’s a huge one.”

The Municipal Planning Commission meets every two weeks and the next scheduled meeting is planned for December 1 at 4 p.m. downstairs in the large boardroom at the town office. For more information or questions about the process or the rezoning public hearing scheduled for November 28, contact Wendy Grimstad-Davidson, at 780-778-2273 or at www.wendydavidson@whitecourt.ca.