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M.D. council refuses land-use amendment
Mac Olsen
for South Peace News
The M.D. of Big Lakes has turned down a land use bylaw amendment for five bare land condominiums in Joussard.
Martin Pedneault wanted to subdivide Lot 9, Block 3, Plan 052 5345 from Hamlet Residential (Joussard) to Bare Land Condominium-2 (BLC-2) District.
“The landowners have requested to subdivide this lot into bare land condominium units because the M.D.’s land use bylaw does not permit parking of multiple recreational vehicles on a residential lot in Joussard,” says community development officer Pat Olansky in a memorandum.
The Municipal Planning Commission recommended council refuse second and third readings, as it would not be in keeping with the intention of the Joussard Area Structure Plan, she adds.
Martin Pedneault and his brother, Gratien Pedneault, attended the Aug. 26 council meeting to explain their intentions for the property.
“We were hoping to be able to use it as a family,” says Martin Pedneault, “but everybody has the impression that we want to have a campground or an RV lot, which is not necessarily the case. Our intent is … to put small cottages (on the property) so we could use them on an individual basis.”
Five family members own the lot and intend to use it on a permanent basis, says Gratien Pedneault.
Deborah Monteith, who lives near their property, spoke against the amendment. Monteith says she made an application for a campground for her property in 2006, but was turned down and asked to follow the area structure plan.
“If I have to do it, everybody has to do it,” says Monteith. “What’s good for one is good for all. Our taxpayers’ dollars write an area structure plan. Do the taxpayers want to know that we don’t follow it after we’ve paid all this money into it? There’s a reason why we get councillors to write these things.”
Her husband, Stacy Monteith, says the area structure plan is critical to the future of Lesser Slave Lake.
“The future is our lake now,” he says. “Our forest industry is down, our oil industry’s down. Farming is terrible. It’s rough all the way around. They have to really be careful of the stuff that goes on at the lake. The condominiums need to be checked out very closely.”
He also says the Alberta Wastewater Association has codes and standards which must be followed when water and sewer infrastructure is being planned.
Besides the Monteiths’ opposition to the amendment, council also received a letter from Joussard with 15 signatures opposing.
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