Multi-family projects on the agenda for first MPC’s meeting of 2023

By COLLIN GALLANT on March 8, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Three apartment and condo projects in Medicine Hat will be discussed today as the municipal planning commission meets for the first time in 2023.

The body will also receive initial draft amendments to the city’s municipal land-use bylaw, which could alter parking requirements, allow taller garages to be built, change formulas to determine maximum building heights, as well as alter density rules for single-family and multi-family housing projects.

Three zoning applications before the commission today are aimed at building medium-density residential projects.

A lot at 1809 Strachan Dr. is part of a larger commercial subdivision started about six years ago and originally designated as a potential hotel development. The larger site, including a seniors living complex, car lot and restaurant and gas stations, was purchased from the city by Canalta Real Estate in 2017.

A separate application will also seek to change zoning at the former CAPE School location at 830A Balmoral St. from community service district to medium-density residential redevelopment. The sale of the property to local development firm Cambridge Investments was approved by the Medicine Hat Public School Division after it was deemed in excess of its needs.

A plan to build affordable housing units by the Miywasin Centre and Medicine Hat Community Housing Society on land near Kipling Street will see a zoning application come forward.

A green space between the city’s fleet garage and the Alberta Health Services additions recovery centre was donated by the City of Medicine Hat in December, and a grant announced by the federal government in February.

Current zoning at the site, addressed 1482 Fifth Ave. as well as 378 and 380 Kipling Str., is community service, denoting municipal use.

That area was designated as light industrial area in a Flats-area structure plan in the mid-1980s, but has since been outlined as a potential intensification corridor in the most recent iteration of the Municipal Development Plan.

If approved by the MPC, rezoning applications proceed to a public hearing at city council for final approval.

Other business of the commission will be to receive overview of development permits issued since September, when the commission last convened.