Municipal Government Review of the Zoning and Building Bylaws
The Village has put aside some budget this year for a consultant to do a complete review and possible update of the Village’s Zoning and Building Bylaws. The intent is not anything exciting, like changing the zoning within the Village, but rather dry and technical. There is a need to update and improve the wording and clauses of the bylaws themselves.
In the review, we would want to do some comparisons with newer bylaws elsewhere, and incorporate peoples’ feedback. Our Building bylaw dates from 1992 and received a minor update in 2002, while the Zoning bylaw was last updated in 2004. The Village’s Building Inspector and Board of Variance have commented to Councils over the years on where these bylaws might benefit from revision and update. As a Village Councillor, I have learned that some issues, such as where parking spaces or garages are to be placed on a property, repeatedly go to the Board of Variance. And I have seen the Building Inspector challenged by a lack of clarity in our bylaw’s definition of “structures”. If fixing the legislation could help avoid this, it would be a good thing.
In the review, feedback would also be welcome from contractors, builders and professionals such as engineers or architects who have had experience in the Village. Have you found issues in “interacting” with our regulations? Are regulations clearer to deal with, in other municipalities around us? Or do our regulations not cover some kind of guidance that should be provided?
Finally, by design, Council left this bylaw review work to be done until after the Age Friendly Transitional Housing study report was in, in case the study produced any suggestions around zoning. At the time of writing of this article, the final report of the study has not gone to Council. However, my personal sense is that the study will not suggest anything definitive about zoning per se, but will rather point to where it would be helpful to have some further dialogue with residents about zoning.
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