More opportunities for input still coming
Christian Gammon-Roy
Tribune
The municipality of West Nipissing held an open house meeting to hear feedback on proposed zoning by-law changes in council chambers on the evening of April 23. The public consultation focused on the municipality’s second draft of the document, which was briefly presented at the meeting, and was also available online ahead of time. The room filled up quickly, with many residents clearly interested in finding out how the proposed plans could affect them, and voicing concerns about possible changes.
The meeting was opened by Ryan Lloyd, a planner at Planscape, who is working with the town on both the Official Plan review and zoning by-laws. “This is your first public point in the plan. So, there’s going to be more opportunities to hear you, and have input on this,” Lloyd assured the large assembly.
While the consultation was meant to discuss the entirety of the Zoning By-Law, key topics were brought up, including additional residential units, camping trailers, home businesses, accessory buildings and structures, new neighbourhood commercial and rural commercial zones, and on-farm diversified uses. These touch on by-laws that would affect people’s use of their property the most, some of which have been causing some uproar in the community.
During the overview, Lloyd brought up key changes to home based businesses and rules for recreational vehicles, acknowledging that these two components were eliciting the most reaction and were probably what brought so many people to the meeting.
