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City approves rezoning of former Riverside School Site

Apr 15, 2019 | 8:24 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — City Council has approved the rezoning of the former Riverside School Site. Council hosted a public hearing on the rezoning, which was originally postponed when Covenant Health, the owner of the land, had its lawyer send a letter saying it needed an additional month.

The public hearing didn’t attract many community members, so the rezoning went smoothly, with a unanimous vote.

201 2 St NW was rezoned from Community Services to Direct Control, in order to facilitate the development of a proposed senior’s complex by Covenant Health.

Covenant bought the site for $850,000 in July 2018.

Riverside School closed in 2017 after 101 years of operation. The building has mostly sat empty since it closed, but was used occasionally by the Medicine Hat Police Service for training purposes.

The use of Direct Control as a land use designation would allow residents to provide input directly to city council at the time of any development proposals.

City administration says this is important, because the 1.3 hectare piece of land is located in the middle of a low density residential area.

Also approved by Council, an overlay on the site changing the listed land use to a discretionary use.

This allows the development authority to ensure design processes follow guidelines, and place conditions on the development permit so surrounding property owners won’t be negatively affected.

The timeline of the project is unknown.