Chamber chair Glenda Rye, left, and chief operating officer Linda Machniak. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Chamber workshop

Battlefords Chamber of Commerce members share thoughts on zoning

Mar 15, 2024 | 4:14 PM

Battlefords Chamber of Commerce members sat down for a workshop today to discuss the topic of zoning.

Representatives from the City of North Battleford also participated in the event since the city is looking for feedback from the chamber on the issue as it is planning to update its zoning bylaw.

Municipal zoning bylaws provide regulations for land use and development in the city. The city’s zoning bylaw helps it carry out the goals of the city’s Official Community Plan .

“We’re all here because we care about our community,” Chamber chair Glenda Rye said.

Some of the concerns chamber business people had included the need for more parking downtown.

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They also asked what can be done to deal with the vacant buildings downtown, saying there needs to be more incentives for these property owners to encourage them to put more effort into selling the sites or to re-purpose them.

“What is the purpose of downtown,” asked one participant, wondering whether the goal is for it to be mainly as a place for shopping or for office buildings.

The issue of the perception of downtown safety was also addressed, as it was noted some shoppers avoid the area because they feel intimidated by the number of vagrants.

City Manager Randy Patrick said bylaws can relate to everything from parking, to land development, and which areas different types of businesses can operate from, whether it be a store or a processing plant.

“What we’re looking for is feedback on how to develop the community and how to attract business, how to keep business, and how to reinvigorate the economy,” he said. “We’re just asking for suggestions on how to do that.”

He noted there was a lot of conversation around the city’s bylaws, and what’s an appropriate business for various areas.

“We’re going to take that back, and it will come out as a report to council in the future,” Patrick said. “We’re also going to be talking to other people. This is our first group. We’re going to do public conversations as well. We’re hoping to talk to the BID [North Battleford Business Improvement District]. We are going to make it a little bit bigger than just the chamber. We want to start redeveloping those bylaws, and this is the starting point.”

Patrick said the workshop would help the city find out from the chamber what their businesses need to succeed, and to identify any hindrances.

Chamber chief operating officer Linda Machniak said the chamber discussed the issue with the city last summer of the potential for the zoning bylaw to be reviewed and/or updated. The workshop was the next step in that process, to have some discussion with businesses to raise concerns, questions or issues and offer suggestions to the city.

“Obviously, a lot of the focus has been the downtown core. But that’s not the only area we have,” Machniak said. “There’s the industrial parks, there are residential pieces, there’s all of that.”

The chamber will gather feedback from its events as well as written submissions it received from members, provide that to the city, and work with the city on any discussions on the issue.

“We talked today about the purpose of the downtown, or the purpose of certain parts of the community. As things change and evolve in a community, and people’s habits change, there needs to be change, so [this is] step one,” Machniak said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @battlefordsnow