Olds council has approved an amendment to the Northeast Area Structure Plan in the hopes of enticing development.
As a result, the commercial zoning component will be removed from the land use concept map in favour of light industrial zoning.
A public hearing was held during Monday’s council meeting with members of the public raising questions including what would it look like aesthetically coming into town from the east along Highway 27 if it is turned into industrial zoning? Mayor Dan Daley says that is addressed through the development permit process. He says “we can actually stipulate what the developers do there to make it not look like an industrial subdivision with, you know, stacks and all that kind of stuff but we can have them do the landscaping along the (Highway) 27 easement there, so that it is more palatable and that it gives a good representation of Olds.”
Mayor Daley adds, those types of agreements are backed with a security deposit from the developer. He says “as we heard from our development officer Mr. Sloan, they do take deposits on these types of developments. So that the developers will ensure that the aesthetics are dealt with the way they are presented on the building permit and development permit. So he was mentioning that it could be $2 to $3 million security deposit that we take on an issue like that and if the developer does not comply with what is laid out on the development and/or building permit then, of course, we can then step in with that money the reserve deposit so to speak and do it the way that it is supposed to be done. So those types of agreements are backed with a security deposit from the developer.”
With lots of commercial land already available in Olds, he believes changing it from commercial to industrial zoning for the plan in the north east area will better entice developers to come and invest in it.
