A regular meeting of the Weyburn City Council was held on February 14; here are the major points of interest:
*Strong lot sales in the first month of 2011 were presented during a report from the Building Department. In January, 11 lots were sold, which was compared to this time last year when four lots were sold. All lots sold this year were on Barber Crescent and Johnston Drive.
As for permits issued in January, four permits worth $1.26 million were issued for new residential builds while the remaining two permits were each worth $10,000 for construction of a garage and additions and alterations.
City Manager Bob Smith said that 77 new lots will be available for sale shortly, once pricing of the lots is performed by the Building Department. The sale of these lots will be conducted by lottery.
*Council voted unanimously to re-zone 11 lots on First Avenue SW from Major Arterial Commercial to Residential Mobile Home after receiving an offer to purchase the lots. The area includes seven vacant lots and four lots with existing dwellings on them.
Minard's Leisure World has offered the City intent to purchase the vacant lots and develop the space with mobile homes to sell to the public.
One letter of opposition was received by developer Gasha Gill, who owns three of the four existing dwellings.
In the letter read at Council, Gill stated, "I am in favour of affordable housing and modular homes anywhere in the city, but on First Avenue the seven lots, which are 50-feet wide and 170 to 200-feet long, each lot is the size of two lots. To maximize the use of this property it would be better to use it as multi-units, hotel/motel or commercial use."
Gill continued that with the amount of hotel/motels in the area, transient people are a concern in the area, as well as the movement of heavy trucks, making it unsuitable for a residential area.
Just before the last reading to pass the re-zoning bylaw, Mayor Debra Button interjected, "I grew up in that area...those lots have been there since I played there. I think having an opportunity to sell these lots and to develop and move forward with affordable housing, whatever your definition of affordable housing is, is a good thing. I do support this motion."
*Councillor Nancy Styles gave a report from the Communities in Bloom committee. She said that the committee is going to focus on composting this year and intends to have a composting workshop in March at City Centre Mall.
Other workshops planned by the committee include a lawn care workshop in April and a flower choice and container garden workshop in May.
