Lethbridge County approves first reading for Chinook lndustrial Park Area Structure Plan

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Lethbridge County has taken the first steps in approving an area structure plan for a new industrial park.

During their regular Oct. 18 meeting, Lethbridge County council reviewed the proposed bylaw for the structure plan for the Chinook lndustrial Park area.

Bylaw 18-012 — Chinook lndustrial Park Area Structure Plan — aims to provide framework for future re-designation, subdivision and development of lands north of the RAVE Industrial Park.

According to documents provided by administration, the plan would allow for commercial/industrial development and associated infrastructure on Lots 4 and 5, Block 1, Plan 1113171 and PUL Lot 6, Block 1, Plan 1113171, located directly north of the RAVE Industrial Park.

“This application was made by Hasegawa Engineering, on behalf of the landowners. There’s two landowners, well, three if you’re including the county, because we own the stormwater pond in that area,” said Hilary Janzen, senior planner for the county.

“The purpose of the plan is to allow for future commercial and industrial development along with associated infrastructure, so roads, ponds, that kind of thing, within this area.”

The proposed structure plan abides by policies in the county’s Municipal Development Plan and the City of Lethbridge/Lethbridge County Intermunicipal Development Plan, and the lands proposed for development have been marked as areas for future growth in the county’s Industrial-Commercial Land Use Strategy.

Janzen noted that they have had the application in hand for 18 months, due to a lot of back and forth with the City of Lethbridge and the applicant, in regards to complying with policies in the IDP.

In the last circulation, Janzen said both the city and county staff were “comfortable” with what was presented, and it was a “good moving forward project for the county, in terms of developing our commercial industrial lands and really implementing that strategy that was approved two years ago”.

Reeve Lorne Hickey inquired about what they would need to do for water and wastewater services for the site.

“The long term vision for this area is that it would tie into the more regional wastewater system, that we’re proposing between, that study we did with Coaldale, to look at the Coaldale-Lethbridge corridor there in terms of servicing,” said Janzen. “In interim servicing, that’s where we had discussions with the city that interim servicing would be permissible, as long as it met the current agreement that we have in place in terms of off-peak discharge and won’t overload their existing system. But they would allow it to a certain extent.”

While the entire 147 acre-development wouldn’t be able to tie into it, Janzen said it will take a long time to develop, and the county hopes it will coincide with a longer-range system of a system between the city and Coaldale.

Coun. Steve Campbell asked about the potential of putting in streetlights along 18 Avenue and 14 Avenue. Janzen noted in the Traffic Impact Assessment, they looked at when they would need road upgrades to 43rd Street, and it acknowledge that it would have to happen around 2035, depending how fast development occurred.

“Once our first subdivision comes in, once this is coming through and we have a subdivision to work with, we’re going to have to come up with a schedule of how we are going to handle making sure we have enough funding in place to support putting in lighting.”

Council approved first reading of the bylaw. A public hearing for the bylaw is expected to be held in November.

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