Housekeeping Amendment 2017-3

As part of an ongoing process to update B/L 8600, staff reviewed the MD1 and MD2 zoning districts in 2017 and 2018. That review identified, among other matters, a gap regarding Transport Terminal in terms of definitions and appropriate provisions.

There were references to “Truck Transportation Facility “, “Transportation Terminal” or “Truck or transport terminals”, but none of these terms were defined or used consistently. With no definition, staff did not consistently apply zoning provisions to a Transport Terminal. Sometimes, Parking Area provisions were applied. Other times, Outdoor Storage Yard provisions were applied. In some cases, no provisions were applied. Similar issues were noted in B/L 85-18.

Staff recommended new provisions regarding setbacks, grading, draining, paving, curbing, screening, lighting, location of refuse bins, and controlling ingress and egress for a Transport Terminal.

Staff also recommended the provision of a minimum of five parking spaces, or if there is a building or structure on the property, that the gross floor area of all buildings or structures shall be used, whichever is greater. The requirement of a minimum of five parking spaces triggers site plan control and ensures proper design of the transport terminal.

The MD1 and MD2 zoning districts in B/L 8600 were revised in terms of format, new definitions, and revised provisions. The MD1 and MD2 zoning districts operate differently from each other. In the MD1 zoning districts, permitted industrial uses were based on a list of specific industrial activities and similar uses. If a specific activity was not listed either in the list or in a definition, the activity was not permitted. In the MD2, zoning districts, any industrial use or activity was permitted except for specific uses or activities that were listed. The excepted uses were essentially prohibited uses.

This created a situation where several MD zoning districts were long and wordy, with a list of specific uses, activities or exceptions that operated like definitions. Over time, this created inconsistency between the MD zones where some specific uses or activities were permitted in one MD zone but not permitted in another MD zone.

To improve readability and to ensure consistency between the MD zoning districts, staff proposed that the lists of industrial activities be grouped into specific defined terms and that those defined terms be identified specifically as an industrial activity. For example, an abattoir, rendering plant and stockyard were grouped in the definition for Animal Processing Facility.

This reduced the number of industrial uses or activities listed. It made it easier to read the provisions and allowed for some flexibility for newer industrial activities that did not quite fit in the long lists of operations and activities. In the MD2 zones, the defined term Industrial Use includes any defined term identified as an industrial activity.

The above matters and the recommendations were brought forward in Housekeeping Amendment 2017-3 (Z-030/17 ZNG/5364). On November 19, 2018, Council approved Housekeeping Amendment 2017-3. No appeals were received.