Town of Barrhead councillors approve four-plex rezoning

BARRHEAD - Two developers got the official go-ahead for their plans to construct a four-plex at the corner of 48th Street and 52nd Avenue after Town of Barrhead councillors gave second and third reading to the bylaw following a Dec.10 public hearing.

The bylaw rezoned the lot from R2 to R3 medium density.

The R2 designation allows property owners to build a single-family dwelling or a duplex, while the R3 designation allows building a tri-plex or four-plex.

The bylaw was given its first reading by council on Nov. 12, a 6-1 vote. The second and third readings were unanimous.

Legislative Services and development director Cheryl Callihoo said the town advertised the public hearing in the local paper, on its website, and on social media platforms and received no submissions for or against the rezoning. It is also worth mentioning that while people were in the public gallery, no one commented on the rezoning, for or against, during the public hearing.

At the Nov. 12 meeting, some councillors had expressed concerns about the four-plex project.

Coun. Rod Klumph was concerned that the four-plex could potentially block the sun to the properties to the south.

Coun. Don Smith questioned whether the project had enough remaining "green space".

At the time, Callihoo responded that the municipal did not have such requirement for the amount of green space but that the plans the developer had submitted did not meet the footprint requirement of taking up only 40 per cent of the lot.

She noted, as it stood, the development exceeded the footprint by four per cent.

However, Callihoo said that since then, the municipal planning commission (MPC) has met with the developers since the last council meeting and stated that the developers had altered the project to meet the requirements for setbacks, number of parking stalls, height, et cetera.

Coun. Dausen Kluin asked the developers, Ron Price and Allan Huet, who they were targeting with the project.

"The thought behind the design is that the main floor would have no stairs, [so the unit] would be perfect for a senior or other individuals who find stairs challenging," Huet said. "The secondary suites upstairs could be for anyone."

Kluin also asked when construction of the four-plex would begin.

Huet replied they did not have a firm timeline, saying they were taking the project "step-by-step."

He added that the first step was getting the property rezoned to R3 before they started looking for potential contractors.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com