Third time lucky.
This time, however, owners of properties next to Hillcrest Elementary will have more than luck going for them.
In 2005 and again in 2006, owners of properties at 2310 and 2450 10th Ave. SE and 1400 20th St. SE applied to council to have their properties removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve for a residential development. The land is owned by E.L. Belway, J.D. Grieve, AJ. Evans, K.W. Appeldoorn, a B.C. numbered company, R.H. McKibbon and N.L. McKibbon.
In 2005, council didn’t authorize the submission because the city’s official community plan policies didn’t support expansion of the city’s urban containment boundary. As well, a survey had shown that adequate land was available for residential development. In 2006, the council of the day authorized the plan to remove the land from the ALR but the Agricultural Land Commission turned it down.
At the city’s June 18 planning meeting, council members reviewed a third request to have an application authorized to the land commission. Council voted unanimously in favour. (Coun. Marg Kentel was absent.) The approval was re-stated at the June 25 council meeting.
This time, backing their approval is the review of the official community plan carried out from 2009 to 2011. A report from the city’s planning department states that “the plan now recognizes that this area may be suitable for inclusion within the urban containment boundary because of its location to existing amenities and the consistent growth occurring in Area ‘A.’