A second special council meeting was held Tuesday regarding amendments to the proposed zoning bylaw, many of which have now been added.
Council heard from all delegations at Monday’s public hearing and delved into council debate about the possible amendments Tuesday.
Many changes were implemented into the bylaw, including an amendment that keeps fitness and recreation centres as a permitted use in industrial zones following a contingent of delegations from affected businesses the previous night.
“We are back to where it was before,” said Mayor Michael Fougere. “We felt strongly that if it isn’t broke let’s not try to fix it, and the delegations, were both written and at council last night were pretty persuasive in their comments.”
“I think [the delegations] spoke really well to what they provide to the community,” said Councillor Joel Murray, who put the motion forward. “The community has really rallied around folks in the warehouse district providing these services and they’re very happy about it.”
Council hopes other amendments will ease concerns about the way residential zoning was streamlined in the original proposal, reworked rules around portable signs and billboards, and other technical concerns raised by delegations.
“We’re not finished. I’m glad the heavy lifting has been done yes, but now we have a lot of work to do,” Fougere said. “There’s a lot of delegations that will come back and talk about what we did, and they may have other views, other things they’d like to see as well.”
“I think we have a better bylaw now than we had when we started.”
Council ultimately voted to table the latest version of the zoning bylaw until proper public consultation can be carried out on all of the amendments.
Once that process is finished, council can move forward with final debate and a decision on the first major overhaul to Regina’s zoning rules in decades.
CTV Regina’s Cole Davenport was at the meeting.
