Businesses on 61 Street in the Riverside Light Industrial area of Red Deer. (Google Maps)

By Josh Hall

expanding access

Landowners in Riverside Light Industrial get final rezoning approval

Jun 25, 2020 | 12:56 PM

Twenty properties in Red Deer’s Riverside Light Industrial area now have some added flexibility with their operations with new IC (Industrial Commercial) zoning.

This was made possible last January when city council approved the creation of a new district because some landowners were requesting increased flexibility for their properties.

The 20 who have since come forward went through a public hearing and final approval at council’s regular meeting on June 24 to have the new zoning applied.

“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that businesses are adapting,” said Councillor Ken Johnston, explaining what it means for a business to pivot. “Those who are able to do that are able to take their marketing plan and business plan and turn it on its head. We need to be in step with that by providing this kind of flexibility so businesses can pivot. Without the ability for businesses to think outside the box, by zoning or by usage, we constrain their ability to be successful.”

Johnston was among the eight council members to vote in support of the rezoning, while colleague Frank Wong shared a different point of view.

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“I still have a concern about losing some light industrial uses that are close to our downtown. We already lost [several] acres in Riverlands and now we’re going to lose [more] from Riverside Light,” he said. “These are desirable lands for light industrial use, it’s close to our city centre and as we convert them, we’re actually diluting our city centre. We’re going to spread out the vacancy all over the place.”

Riverside Light Industrial is the oldest industrial park in the city, opening in 1961.

Historically, the area has offered smaller than average building footprints, making it more difficult over time to attract industrial type clients. The rail line through the district departing about 20 years ago didn’t help in terms of it maintaining an industrial character.

This map from the City of Red Deer shows darkened areas where requests have already come from to rezone to IC. (City of Red Deer)

“One of the challenges we’ve been faced with is that we don’t have a lot of light industrial in the community. We need to uphold light industrial uses but we also need to recognize the area has been in transition without a planning vision to drive that specific change,” said Mayor Tara Veer. “Probably one of the more antiquated portions of the City’s Land Use Bylaw has been the fact that we haven’t had a business industrial park, and we’ve lost development as a result of that. Much like the area has been in transition, it’s important we do what we can to modernize our Land Use Bylaw so that we can respond to the changing needs of our community.”

Under the new IC district regulations, offices up to 10,000 square feet, indoor rec facilities, industrial/commercial training facilities, microbreweries, and supporting merchandise sales where the sales component is 30 per cent or less of the gross floor area, can operate.

Interested landowners can apply by Dec. 31, 2020 and have the regular land use bylaw amendment fee waived. After Dec. 31, the fee must be paid.

Through previous consultation, the City found that a majority of property owners in Riverside Light would favour increased flexibility, which will also reduce the number of site exceptions the City has to process.

The City says a second round of rezoning requests will come to council in the near future.

RELATED: More commercial now welcome in Riverside Light Industrial area