A County of Wetaskiwin council split vote defeated a resident’s application to waive an area structure plan June 8.
The application from Cindy Walter & Walter van Hemert for property located at SW 6-48-27-W4M, Plan 092203 Block 1, Lot 1 was presented to county council at their regular Planning and Development Meeting June 8.
Director of Planning and Development David Blades presented the application to councilors. “On March 16, 2018, Administration received a request for a Waiver for the completion of a Area Structure Plan within SW 6-48-27-W4M, Plan 0922031, Block 1, Lot 1 from Cindy Walter and Walter van Hemert,” stated Blades in the agenda package memo.
The applicants told the council the council, “Cindy Walter and Walter van Hemert purchased this property approximately four years ago, which had a 980 square foot home along with shop, well, septic tank and a mixture of fencing. The original intent of purchasing the property was to house Cindy and Walter and our aging parents for the foreseeable future. We intended on building a second home on the property that Cindy and Walter would live in, which has now been completed, and the original house would be utilized by Walter’s parents.
“Walter’s parents are now considering moving into a more seniors focused living arrangement closer to medical and city facilities probably within the next few years. Cindy and Walter would then have to rent out the original home and simply do not want to be landlords and it would be a shame to leave the property vacant as well as a security and insurance risk.”
The agenda memo stated the objective of this request is to gain approval to subdivide off the original home, now labeled as House 1 with a portion of the property which makes sense to the County of Wetaskiwin and the current owners. The process requires an area structure plan, which the applicants requested be waived by county council.
Blades noted house #2 would stay with the property and the smaller house would be split off onto its own title.
Reeve Kathy Rooyakkers noted she didn’t see the need for an ASP because nothing new was being built; everything in this application already exists, such as the traffic situation.
Councilor Lyle Seely stated it seems onerous to ask for an ASP in such applications, but he pointed out he’s seen situations where an ASP was required because of public input, and the public deserves to have input. “You never know what’s going to come out,” said Seely.
Councilor Dale Woitt asked how much an ASP would cost the applicants. Blades responded the cost varies greatly. It could cost $500 plus $100 per lot, or range between $6,000 and $8,000 just for a water pump test.
The request was defeated by councilors in a 3 to 3 vote.