A special meeting of Elliot Lake City Council called at 6:30 on Monday night (tonight) will be held to consider a zoning change for the old Creative Glass building on Ontario Avenue.
The agenda posted last week online on the City of Elliot Lake website includes an application by a numbered Ontario company in the care of Amin Bashir, a resident of Elliot Lake.
He is seeking an exception to the zoning of a two-storey building at 26 Ontario Avenue to allow a religious faith group to take over the old Creative Glass building for use as a worship centre. Bashir said the plan is for the faith group to take a lease on the building once the zoning is approved.
In the presentation she made to the Elliot Lake By-law and Planning Committee on the topic back on June 5, 2022, city clerk Natalie Bray said the group was comprised of approximately 50 worshippers.
She said, aside from religious services, the faith group plans to host youth meetings in the building as well, twice a week.
The public meeting to receive input from anyone who might want to comment on the plans to rent the building or ask questions is tonight.
On the city hall website, it is simply billed as a special meeting of council. But the clerk identified the meeting as a public meeting to consider zoning, at the June committee meeting.
One important piece of information missing from the agenda documents that have been provided is the name of the faith group.
Bashir promised to deliver that information to ElliotLakeToday late Monday morning, but nothing has been provided as this story is published.
He told ElliotLakeToday that the group is based in the United States, in the state of Utah, and has a sub-office in the province of Alberta.
Also asked for information about the proposed tenant, Mayor Dan Marchisella wrote, "I don't have those details at this time, either. We are to look at the denomination unbiasedly."
A zoning change proposal is first presented to and considered by the Bylaw and Planning Committee. That was done at a committee meeting chaired by Coun. Ed Pearce on Monday, June 6, 2022.
Once it passes that hurdle, a public hearing is arranged, advertised, and held to gather community input. All that happens before the zoning change plan goes to council.
Issues such as compatibility with existing neighbourhood uses, building structure and amenities, parking availability, traffic flow, health, security and safety issues, tax change implications, and other factors, are normally considered.
In the special meeting agenda is a report by Elliot Lake's planning consultant JL Richards & Associates of Sudbury, which recommends approval of the zoning change.
It is signed off by Richard's planner Gursiman Saini who wrote the following about the parking availability for the new worship centre, “Section 6 of the Zoning By-law contains parking requirements and states that one space for every five seats is required for churches and church halls. Further, Section 6.2 notes that off-street parking need not be provided for lands in C1 zone where such lands are located within 100 m of a municipal parking station.
“There are two municipal parking lots which are located approximately 100 metres towards the north and northwest from the subject property. As such, off-street parking is not required to permit a place of worship on the subject property," she continued.
“There is also on-street parking in the vicinity of the subject property. Based on a review of relevant policies, the proposed amendment is reasonable and generally maintains the intent of the zoning by-law and can be recommended for approval,” she concluded.
The hybrid public meeting is scheduled to be live-streamed on the city hall website at 6:30 p.m.
It will run immediately prior to the regular council meeting at 7 p.m.