The proposed Bentley Road Industrial Park in Summerland has been 14 years in the making but will finally become a reality after an upcoming public hearing and final approval from the Agricultural Land Commission.
Director of Development Services Ian McIntosh presented the history of the process the district has gone through since the idea first arose in 1995 at Tuesday night's council meeting.
The ALC conducted a study at that time, granting conditional approval to excluding farm land to make way for the industrial park in 1998.Ê To satisfy ALC and district requirements, individual interviews with land owners, a traffic impact study, a drainage study, two open houses to gather public input were conducted.
Coun. Peter Waterman questioned part of the guidelines for the industrial zone bylaw that require "texture, graphics, or colours to provide visual interest" to the exterior of buildings.Ê "I'm kind of wondering if we're adding aspects to this bylaw that are unnecessary." Waterman said, adding; "I'm wondering if we've gone a little bit far in some of the stringencies."
"One of the big points that came out from (interviews with) the neighbours and landowners was that they wanted an industrial park that looked better than what we have out there at the moment." McIntosh said, "It is the north entrance to our town."
Council approved the bylaw to move forward to public hearing unanimously.
"I'm very interested in hearing from the public." Mayor Janice Perrino said.
A public hearing on the Bentley Road Industrial Park will take place Feb. 25 during the council meeting at 13211 Henry Avenue. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.