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Many City Councillors Unhappy With Wording in Recently Adopted Zoning Bylaw

Thursday, 28 March 2019 12:13

Photo courtesy of City of Whitehorse

Many councilors expressed their frustration on Monday night towards misleading wording used in a recently adopted "administrative edits" zoning amendment bylaw.

Many councillors expressed their frustration on Monday night towards misleading wording used in a recently adopted "administrative edits" zoning amendment bylaw.

The bylaw attempted to outline clarifications around development permits, landscaping regulations and signage rules around the City of Whitehorse.

Councillor Laura Cabott says wording in the bylaw around development permits for structures was quite vague.

"The bylaw (includes)... rebuilding structures such as garage, storage sheds and greenhouses...I appreciate  that those are larger structures and maybe on a commercial or an industrial-zoned area that they need to have a development permit... it just seems like anything that is less than that, it might be overkill to be asking people in those zones that they have to go through a development permit."

Councillor Steve Roddick says Whitehorse resident also submitted their concerns online about the planting of planting perennials during certain times of the year.

Roddick says the edits didn't sit well with some residents.

"Six written submissions were received...Concerns were raised that requiring perennial landscaping in front yards is overly de  scriptive and will not allow for annual plantings or local food production."

Councillor Dan Boyd says the edits are misleading when labelled as "minor" in council reports.

"I've taken issue with this before and I'll take issue with it again tonight. Please, in the future could we come up with some new language to shine a light on this and draw peoples attention. Don't coin (the words) as minor when many of them are not."

Councillors will now discuss with senior city management officials about changing the wording in "administrative edits" reports to more accurate language moving forward.

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