The Town of Sidney is looking to overhaul their zoning bylaw after adopting a new official community plan and recent requirements for zoning changes from the provincial government.
At a council meeting on Monday, April 22, council voted in favour of moving forward with a community engagement period before a June 30 deadline for new zoning changes.
In 2022, the town adopted the newest OCP which called for zoning changes and last years strategic plan also called for updates to the zoning bylaw. Most recently, the province passed Bill-44, which forces municipalities to approve up to six units on a single family lot, giving municipalities until June 30 to update their zoning bylaw.
“Over and above that provincial mandated change, this project was always intended to be a comprehensive review and update of every section of the bylaw,” said Corey Newcomb, director of community planning, at a committee of the whole meeting on April 15.
Overall, neighbourhood residential zones will have six zones instead of eight with the intent of allowing three to four units on a lot and three storeys in height as opposed to the current allotted two-and-a-half storeys.
Multi-use residential has two new zones and an amended zone with RM-5, neighbourhood townhouse zone, having apartment use removed and lot coverage reduced.
“A lot of the residents in the community felt that recent multi-unit residential developments didn’t provide a lot of open space on a lot and keep with that sentiment and feedback in the OCP process. We’ve increased the setbacks and reduced the lot coverage somewhat in these zones to provide a little more open space, that’s been modelled out with the allowable density and other factors to make sure that it’s still a very viable development scenario that works with the other regulations in the zone.” said Newcomb.
Parcels zoned as RM-6, are for purpose-built rental buildings for the “protection of vital rental housing,” so the 14 properties that would be zoned that way would have to remain as rental housing even if the building is redeveloped.
The proposed RM-7 zone, which is aimed to be in accordance with the West Side Local Area Plan, are currently zoned as R-2 which allows for one and two family uses, and if changed, properties would allow four storeys and up to six storeys if the building in 20 per cent affordable housing.
Small adjustments would be made to the neighbourhood commercial zone, including limits on surface parking for properties zoned as commercial-1.
The Galran neighbourhood would be rezoned from R-2 to M-2 to allow for modest scale with potential for mixed-use properties.
Marine zoning would change to reduce residential dwellings on waterfront parcels to help strengthen the local marine industry with parcels allowing two dwellings on properties North of Harbour Road being reduced to one dwelling, and further density changes to properties South of Harbour Road.
Parks and Utility properties would see minor changes, with regulations for restaurant noise and recognition of commercial use of boat launches.
Comprehensive development zones, which are custom zones for specific sites that don’t meet zoning requirements like the SHOAL Centre, would reduce from 34 to 10 with most properties being rezoned to either R or RM zones.
The town will be taking public opinions through email or at the number of community engagement events with an information session on Tuesday, may 7 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Mary Winspear Centre, open houses at Sidney Town Hall from May 6 to 10 from 9 a.m. to noon, and a public hearing later in May.
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