A public hearing for an amendment to the Northeast Area Structure Plan Bylaw and the Land Use Bylaw is coming up on January 26th at 1pm in the Olds council chambers.
This week, council gave first reading to it and the amendment would see the commercial zoning component removed from the land use concept map in favour of light industrial zoning. Town administration points out that the investment needed for the initial development of the plan area will likely need to be from large scale development rather than a large volume of smaller ones over time.
Mayor Dan Daley believes it is a really good move for economic development in the Town of Olds. He says “just in the hopes that this entices developers to come to our town and start developing those four quarters of land there. To, you know, bring up the tax base as well as to bring jobs, help us out in all other areas of the municipality that we could use whether it is jobs, housing, commerce, you name it.” The Northeast Area Structure Plan covers four quarters of land north and east of the old town of Olds office building and the land was annexed earlier this decade from Mountain View County.
Administration highlighted the fact during Monday’s council meeting that the gateway into town along both highways 2A and 27 could be made aesthetically pleasing through alternative measures such as “substantial landscaping features, berms, and building design” as opposed to a large amount of commercial zoning which was originally included in the ASP to create a buffer from the light industrial land uses. Mayor Daley says “the need for industrial land, we feel, will outweigh the need for commercial land in the near future. So to be able to get the area developed and also to be able to start the development in that area, we thought getting rid of that commercial area along the two sides of that property would better entice developers to come into Olds.”
