MOOSE JAW — City council has officially cleared the way for Moose Jaw’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 59 to move into its new, more accessible home on Fairford Street West.
During its Dec. 2 regular meeting, council voted 6-0 to approve the Legion’s discretionary use application for a “private club” at 693 Fairford Street West. The veterans’ organization — which currently operates at 268 High Street West — intends to use the existing building on the site as an office and meeting space for its members.
As part of this process, city administration rezoned the property from M2f2 heavy industrial and flood fringe 2 overlay districts to M1f2 light industrial and flood fringe 2 overlay districts.
Coun. Jamey Logan declined to vote because he owns the building.
The zoning bylaw lays out criteria that council must consider when reviewing discretionary use applications, such as ensuring that the project conforms with the Official Community Plan (OCP) and detailed land use, servicing or renewal studies, a council report said.
Furthermore, “private clubs” are discretionary in the M1 light-industrial district, M3 mixed-used business park industrial district, C2 high-density commercial district and C3 vehicle-oriented commercial district, while they are prohibited in all other districts.
“The city does not currently have a zoning district that allows private clubs as a permitted use, therefore, any proposal of a private club would require city council approval,” the report said. “(Meanwhile), there are no records within the last nine years of a private club proposal.”
City administration did not expect the Legion’s new home to have much of an effect on the existing infrastructure, pointing out that the site has two access points from Seventh Avenue Northwest and entry to the west side and rear for on-site parking. Moreover, the existing parking exceeds the required six standard and one accessible parking stalls for a building of this size and use.
The parking lot will remain gravel, but if the Legion wants to pave it, it must submit a grading plan that identifies on-site drainage patterns, the report said. Meanwhile, the organization does not propose landscaping the area but will renovate the interior and must acquire a developing/building permit for that activity.
The Legion’s new home isn’t expected to affect adjacent land uses or increase traffic too much since Fairford Street West already hosts various businesses, the document continued. Most area land uses are for warehouses, storage and contractor offices and yards, so those aren’t expected to conflict with a “private club.”
City hall issued public notices to property owners within 90 metres about the proposed venue and zoning changes while it also advertised the announcement on its website and in the Moose Jaw Express, the report added. However, the city received only two comments, and none of them were negative.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 16.
