BONNYVILLE - Happy House Daycare won't be opening up in Bonnyville, at least not until they find a suitable location.
Town council defeated the motion to approve the business’ development permit at 6210 50 Ave. due to safety concerns for the children with the proposed building being located in an industrial area.
“To me, there’s a reason why we don’t allow these types of occupancies in this zoning,” explained Coun. Brian McEvoy during council’s regular meeting on Jan. 28. “This doesn’t belong in this industrial zone.”
Coun. Ray Prevost agreed, “This is something we want, we want a daycare. The problem is that it’s in the wrong area. Nobody’s opposed to a daycare in Bonnyville, it’s just the location isn’t conducive to a daycare in this situation… I’d like to have it here, because it’s important… to the community and the people at large who are going to use the service. Let’s be realistic, it doesn’t conform in that area.”
Councillors Rene Van Brabant and Chad Colbourne, and Mayor Gene Sobolewski voted in favour of approving the permit, while councillors Ray Prevost, Elisa Brosseau, and Brian McEvoy were against. Coun. Lorna Storoschuk declared a conflict of interest.
Other issues raised by administration regarding the proposed address were the parcel lacked 11 of the 34 parking stalls required for the size, there were no buffers between the building and adjacent commercial development, there’s no safe pedestrian network in the area for outings during the day, and a daycare is inconsistent with the rest of the businesses already present and could prevent future development.
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Businesses have a place to put excess snow
The Town of Bonnyville is looking into establishing a permanent snow dumping location for local businesses.
In the meantime, the municipality is allowing use of their area, off of 47 Ave., after being approached by business owners who ran into some issues with Alberta Environment.
“In previous years, snow haulers dumped snow into any land that was available to them, however, the situation is now that Alberta Environment is pressuring businesses to stop that practice,” explained assistant CAO Bill Rogers. “As a result, we got requests from the town to provide a place to dump snow since they can’t push it into town ditches and there’s no dump site.”
The town’s current snow dump area, which is near where the proposed dog park will be, is relatively small and restricted in size due to its proximity to Jessie Lake.
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Council mapping out priorities
Members of council will be sitting down to discuss what they’ve accomplished so far this term, and the direction they want to go for the next two years.
Administration will be scheduling planning sessions for council that will focus on updating their strategic priorities, examining current issues facing the municipality and region, and developing additional action plans for 2020 and 2021.
