Council Approves Moves To Initiate Changes To Official Community Plan
A subdivision application made about a cattle stockyard in the centre of Moose Jaw has lead to Administration requesting further changes changes to other Intensive Livestock Operations (ILOs) within the city.
At their November 8th meeting Council heard from the Planning Department that an April 21st application by JGL Livestock and B & L Livestock to subdivide a Home Street West property used as a stockyard had Administration requesting to change the Official Community Plan (OCP) as it applies to ILOs.
An OCP is required by the Province and it establishes a comprehensive policy framework to guide the physical, environmental, economic, social and cultural development of the municipality or any part of the municipality.
“After further review this requires a little bit more work,” planning director Michelle Sanson told Council. “There is a contradiction between the text and our maps.”
According to the report to Council the changes to the OCP would remove two feedlots - Lister Feedlot and Prefontaine Feedlot - as ILOs within city limits as they are no longer in operation. Administration wants the OCP to be changed to reflect they are no longer in operation.
Additionally Administration would like to change the distances between the still operational M & T Feedlot located at 2750 River Street West. Under the present OCP all new dwellings must be 4.8 kilometers (4800 meters away).
Administration would like to see the distance for development around ILOs changed.
Under the proposed changes to the OCP, Administration is proposing to amend the separation distances for institutional, commercial, group or multi-unit dwelling to 1600m, regardless of the animal units present in the ILO.
Administration is proposing to maintain the same separation distance currently required for ILOs operating with over 2000 animal units for any new one-unit dwelling, tourist accommodation or campground use as 1200m.
Although the proposed distances between existing ILOs and future development is being changed in the OCP the Province sets the minimum setback distance of 300 meters for residential properties. The Act does allow municipalities to implement bigger setbacks.
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“It makes much more sense to allow development to proceed,” Sanson said about the proposed 1600 meter setback for commercial/institutional development.
Without the proposed amendments to the OCP the existing setbacks have the potential of seriously constraining development.
Council voted unanimously in favour of removing the two non-operational feedlots from the OCP as well as starting the process to better define the OCP as it related to ILOs within Moose Jaw.