Martensville City Council met for the first time this year on January 9th for their monthly Committee of the Whole meeting. The meeting began with a public hearing regarding a discretionary use for an apartment style complex planned at 225 Main Street. The application was submitted by Cliff Rempel on behalf of 101304492 Saskatchewan Ltd.
This location is currently zoned for R3 for high density developments, and is located between two multiple unit dwellings, including Heritage Manor and Arielle Heights. The Bergthaler Mennonite Church is located across Main Street to the south of the location, and residential homes are located to the north of the location on Anna Crescent.
The four-storey complex is planned to consist of 87 units, which will each include a private balcony, a suite for guests to rent when visiting tenants and an amenities room for those living there. There will also be two elevators, as well as underground parking and there would be options of one, two, and three bedroom suites.
As per the City of Martensville zoning bylaw, each unit would require its own parking space, plus 0.1 visitor parking for every unit, totaling nine spots. This means that a minimum requirement of 96 parking spaces, plus any required accessible spaces would need to be installed on site, either inside or outside. The plan received by the City of Martensville includes 125 parking stalls.
Additionally, the front 4.5m of the site must be landscaped and any area on site that is not covered by building or paving must also be landscaped. The current site contains numerous mature trees in various locations, and although there is no requirement to retain existing trees on site, Council is able to apply discretionary use conditions to ensure the preservation of certain mature trees.
The location will be required to include adequate refuse containers on site, which must be screened from view. City of Martensville administration also requested that the rear lane, running from 2nd Avenue North to the east boundary of the property be paved by the developer.
The report to Council noted that initially, this will be the tallest building along Main Street; however, as Main Street evolves over time, administration presumes that more buildings of this height will not be uncommon in the future.
A total of 96 public hearing notices were mailed out to properties within the area, and the required signage was installed by the applicant on-site.
The public hearing was held at the January 9th meeting, which saw numerous area residents speak to Council about concerns they have regarding the project. Concerns included; traffic on Main Street, parking, privacy, back alley traffic increasing, and the size of building.
Additional information will be brought forward to Council for further discussion at an upcoming meeting.
