City looks to rezone Primrose Drive space

By Collin Gallant on August 29, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Open land once proposed to be an alternate location for the Veiner Centre is being considered for new residential designation and possible sale to a private developer.

The parcel, a decades-old greenspace in the Connaught area, is one of the first projects responding to a council strategic priority, which tasks the land department with find and sell excess, marketable space in the municipal land bank.

“City council’s 2019-2022 strategic plan states selling vacant, surplus land inventory that’s not required for municipal purposes is a priority,” said Jane Zwicker, a marketing manager with the city’s land and business support office. “That should focus on intensification … and promote private development.”

The spot, at 352 Primrose Dr., appears to meet both criteria, said Zwicker. As well, her office has been approached by private sector developers about the potential for acquiring it.

The land faces College Avenue, and is currently zoned as an open space district, neighbouring Connaught Golf Club and a seniors’ living facility at one entrance to the horse-shoe styled community.

An open house will be held on Sept. 5, 3-7 p.m. at a tent on the site.

Zwicker said the event is meant to inform nearby residents about the process. No official steps have been taken yet, she stressed, and no offers to purchase are pending. Any zoning change requires a council vote following a public hearing.

The land was initially selected as the first choice for a new seniors’ centre following flood damage to the Veiner Centre in 2013. That plan was altered however, after council balked at the price of a proposed building, then rescinded its decision to relocate from Woodman Avenue.

The plan now would change the zoning and offer the spot for sale as a medium-density residential opportunity.

That designation would allow townhomes and row houses on site, with duplexes or apartments a discretionary use requiring a nod from the municipal planning commission.

“It’s well suited for residential development given its central location in the city and (with) nearby services and amenities,” said Zwicker.

It is about one-half block from an intersection with the busy 13th Avenue SE corridor, and is on a bus route.

City council has listed as a priority for the term that administration will evaluate reserve land in the inventory for possible sale.

Another is to reduce spending on development by focusing on land along existing city roads and utility lines to arrest infrastructure costs, since such “intensification” essentially puts more taxpayers on existing systems.

That means additional new costs are minimal compared to building new extensions of roads or pipes, while the tax base grows, theoretically lowering costs.

The department’s 2017 annual report released this spring outlined expectations to, over several years, run out of the current inventory of land designated for multi-family development.

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