The district continues to make progress on bylaws that will allow for temporary commercial or industrial endeavors.
Sicamous council has given three readings to a bylaw that establishes procedure for granting temporary use permits. These permits allow a property to be utilized for a commercial/industrial use that is currently not permitted by its zoning. The permit is good for up to three years, and can be renewed only once for another three years. After that, applicant may be directed to return the property to its original state, or be asked to pursue a rezoning. Details of the permit, such as time limit, uses, etc., are determined by council at the time of application, as guided by the procedural bylaw.
The district was encouraged to introduce temporary use permits last summer by a commercial property owner who had wanted permission to allow temporary parking on an adjacent property he also owned.
In response, council amended the official community plan to allow for temporary use permits in the district’s Commercial Highway and Town Centre zones. Council has recently expanded this by adding Agriculture and Resource Use, Marine, Residential and General Industrial zones to the bylaw.
At a public hearing for these recent inclusions, interim administrator Doug Ruttan said that, to date, the district had not received any applications for the permits. He also explained that such applications would be subject to the approval process – that council is in the process of approving.
The proposed process requires applicants to provide thorough disclosure about what the permit is for, necessitates public notification, and gives council final authority to approve or deny a permit application.