CBRM COUNCIL MEETS
If approved, Kent Building Supplies Ltd. store would be accessed by new roundabout
Find out what happened at last night’s meeting.
A major building supplies company is looking to purchase and develop a large plot of land on Grand Lake Road.
Kent Building Supplies Ltd. has made an application requesting that Cape Breton Regional Municipality council amend its Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) to allow the Atlantic Canadian home improvement giant to purchase 100-acre tract of land and build a store on the property that lies adjacent to Grand Lake Road between the Mayflower Mall and the Kytes Hill subdivision.
More than half of the area is in an Arterial Business Corridor (ABC), but the eastern section sits in a zone that is designated as Residential Urban C (RUC). That means the proposed development is presently only allowed in the former and would require that the MPS be amended before the project would be permitted in the latter.
CBRM planner Karen Neville informed council during its Tuesday evening meeting, that it is within its rights to consider the amendment as it applies to a residential-zoned area that is adjacent to land already designated as a business corridor.
She also explained that the rezoning application must take into account a recent Grand Lake Road traffic study that was jointly commissioned by the CBRM and the province’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
“As a result of this study, the Municipal Planning Strategy contains a policy that states no new business development shall be permitted along this corridor of Grand Lake Road between Sydney and Glace Bay unless the site can be accessed by a lighted (signalized) intersection,” said Neville.
She went on to explain that because the applicant is proposing an intersection with a roundabout, which is not presently listed as a traffic management option, it was also required to make application for a further amendment of the CBRM’s planning strategy. However, she suggested that may not be problematic as the province has confirmed its support for an MPS amendment to include a roundabout as an acceptable option in the Grand Lake Road business corridor.
District 6 councillor Ray Paruch, for one, was ecstatic after hearing of the proposed development.
“Anybody that wants to buy a 100-acre property, who want to expand a business, who wants to employ people in the area, who wants to pay us taxes, well, I’m all for it — we need more projects like this — this is employment, this is growth, this is stability for our area,” he said.
District 12 councillor Jim MacLeod, who represents the area, said he also favours development, but took the opportunity to remind his colleagues not to forget about Kytes Hill subdivision residents who have been fighting for improved and safer access into their community from Grand Lake Road.
After being directed by Neville to either reject the application outright or to ask CBRM staff to initiate a public participation program, council unanimously voted to go with the latter. That means staff will bring the results of that program back to council along with a detailed evaluation and recommendations on how to proceed on the matter.
Kent Building Supplies Ltd., a division of J.D. Irving Ltd. which has been in business for more than 40 years and presently has 49 retail locations across Atlantic Canada, purchased former rival Central Building Supplies in early 2017.