The former Deer Park Fire Hall at 39 Street and Davison Drive. (rdnewsNOW/Sheldon Spackman)

By Josh Hall

DOING A 180

City council reverses decision on former Deer Park fire hall

Jul 6, 2020 | 5:47 PM

Red Deer city council has reversed course on a contentious decision to deny a rezoning application for the former fire hall building in Deer Park.

On Monday, Councillor Lawrence Lee proposed a reconsideration of second reading — the stage at which it was denied — based on the fact he discovered new information since the original vote.

“The extenuating circumstances were this: when the matter first came to council and was considered, very shortly after that took place, I became aware of some new information. [My vote] was based solely on my understanding of there being a statutory document in place [for that neighbourhood],” he said. “I apologize to council. My understanding was not based in reality. Reality is there’s no statutory document for the bylaw, only an outline plan for the area. The only rationale I gave was not based on any other principle.”

Lee was granted his requested reconsideration on a 7-2 vote despite the fact that it is stated several times in the June 22 council agenda that Deer Park is not guided by a statutory plan.

“Both types of documents provide a a concept land use plan. One was used in earlier days and now we’ve moved to area structure plans. The outline plans are usually adopted by resolution, while statutory plans are adopted by bylaw and have a public hearing. So there’s a difference in public participation,” explains Emily Damberger, City planning manager.

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“The outline document provides guidance and is a document council can consider — the same as a statutory plan. But there’s some difference in terms of what council must consider with a statutory document versus what they could consider with an outline plan.”

Deer Park’s outline plan dates back to 1981.

A 5-4 vote of council in June turned into a 6-3 vote in favour of the application, which applicant John Ponto originally meant to turn the fire hall into the new home of his long-time travel insurance business. He also hopes to bring in a new coffee shop.

In addition to Lee changing his vote, so too did Dianne Wyntjes who remarked, “This one’s for you, Chamber.”

The Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce lambasted council’s denial, telling rdnewsNOW that it would have been a good news story, but instead was just another indicator that the current council isn’t business-friendly.

Frank Wong, Tanya Handley and Buck Buchanan all stuck with their dissenting votes.

After council’s initial decision, Ponto told rdnewsNOW he’d be selling the Deer Park building and relocating his business to Gasoline Alley.

Ponto was not immediately available for comment.