The people have been heard.
In a second meeting on Tuesday, Regina’s city council decided on changes to the new zoning bylaw which were asked for by delegates on Monday night.
On Monday night, council heard from concerned citizens about everything from portable signs to infill concerns to zoning in industrial areas. On Tuesday night, councillors got down to brass tacks to figure out what to change and how.
With almost no debate against it, council decided to change the new bylaw to reflect current practices when it comes to recreational facilities in industrial areas. The new zoning bylaw will now have them as a permitted use in industrial areas, and a discretionary use in heavy industrial.
Kim Delesoi was at the meeting to watch the debate. She’s with Spirit of the Dragon Martial Arts School.
“We’re very, very happy, it couldn’t have turned out better,” Delesoi said about the decision.
She said it was great to see concern for the businesses come up in the councillors’ discussions.
The vast majority of the delegates’ submissions on Monday night were on this issue, but Delesoi said she was still concerned about the outcome.
“We were a little bit worried that maybe it wouldn’t be an issue, that it wouldn’t be something that would have affected the decision, but obviously everyone was in tune with what the public needed and that was very exciting,” she said.
Joel Murray is the councillor for Ward 6, which encompasses the Warehouse District. He made the motion for the amendment and said he’s happy with the outcome.
“The community has really rallied around folks in the Warehouse District providing these services, and they’re very happy about (the decision),” Murray said.
Mayor Michael Fougere said the delegates on Monday night had moved him on the issue.
“We felt strongly that if it isn’t broke, let’s not try to fix it and the delegations, both written and of course at council (Monday) night, were pretty persuasive in their comments,” he said.
Residential zoning
Councillors also voted to separate R-1 residential areas from RN in the new bylaw.
Several people spoke with concerns on that issue on Monday night, saying they didn’t want unsightly multi-family buildings to congest and change the character of their single-family home neighbourhoods.
Many of the councillors spoke about parking issues as a reason they were in support of keeping R-1 areas separate, but Coun. Bob Hawkins’ reason was a bit different.
“I rise in praise of single-family home residential neighbourhoods …,” he said. “Why do I rise in praise of them? For one very simple reason, a reason Regina offers that many communities like Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto can’t offer, and that reason is space. It’s a tremendous asset.”
Council also voted to articulate standards for building in R-1 zones — things like proportion, height, orientation, and massing.
Coun. Barbara Young said the change won’t stop infill housing from happening, as things like laneway suites are already allowed in some parts of the city. But she said it will slow it down.