YORKTON - Yorkton Council is looking to amend the city’s Zoning Bylaw, and Monday approved first reading of those changes.
The changes being considered came from Administration in order move a number of Broadway Street properties into a Mixed Use Residential-Business zoning district, explained Carleen Koroluk – Planner, with the city at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Nov 25.
Both the Municipal Development Plan (MDP), adopted in 2003, and the Downtown and West Broadway Redevelopment Plan, commissioned in 2003 and completed in 2005, projected phasing out of housing in the West Broadway Corridor and establishing Broadway Street as a continuous commercial strip, detailed the report to Council.
In 2007, it was brought to the City’s attention that the residential properties rezoned for commercial uses were experiencing difficulties in obtaining and/or renewing mortgage financing because of the Zoning Bylaw’s building replacement restrictions on legal non-conforming uses.
“Essentially, while continued residential use was assured, redevelopment, for example in the event of a loss due to fire, was limited,” said Koroluk. “And this was affecting the owner’s ability to obtain property insurance as required by financial institutions.”
At the request of potential investors to recognize the residential use as an entrenched right under the Zoning Bylaw, which would allow properties to be insured, the City rezoned several individual properties to Contract Zoning (CZ) and incorporated transitional standards for the remaining residential use properties.
Subsequent to the 2007 amendments, in early 2010 it was noted that there were additional properties being used for residential use that were not included in the 2007 Contract Zoning. While the residential use was allowed until commercial development, the ability to obtain insurance continued to be limited. To address this, the CT-2 Arterial Commercial (Transitional) zoning district was implemented and residential use properties not included in the Contract Zoning were rezoned to CT-2, noted the report.
The CT-2 district provided a full range of commercial uses in keeping with the intended future character of the area, while still allowing for the continuance of existing residential uses as discretionary uses.
Currently, twenty-two properties remain zoned CT-2 and with the continued reinvestment into residential uses within the Corridor, Administration is seeking to rezone the remaining properties and one additional property suitable for residential or commercial use, to MXURB and delete the CT-2 zoning district in its entirety from the Zoning Bylaw, detailed Koroluk. As the rezoning allows for either commercial use or residential use without Council authorization being required, it provides additional options for both current and prospective property owners, in the event of a property sale. It is also noted that property taxes are based on assessed use of the property, so the rezoning would not directly affected property taxes.
With passage of first reading at the meeting, the amendments will be brought back to Council at a later date for second and third reading.
