The Municipality of Shawville held a public hearing on Monday night to allow for public input on a zoning change to allow for high density housing in a commercial section of Victoria Avenue.
The amendment was requested by Langford’s Grocery owner Mazhar Iqbal Dar (better known locally as Tony). The change, if approved, would affect zone C10 (see map), which includes the section of Victoria Avenue from the post office to the intersection with rue Argyle, allowing for R3 residential construction, which is for apartments with five or more units.
“I don’t think it would be reasonable to allow for single dwelling to be going there, I think it needs to be a higher density and that’s what the request has been for,” Shawville building inspector Charles Gallant said at the hearing.
Dar told THE EQUITY that he was planning to put an eight-unit apartment building on the property adjoining the dépanneur, which currently houses a storage shed. He added that he’s planning on building more upscale “luxury” apartments, though the exact number of units and other details would take time to work out.
“It all depends on what the architect designs,” he said.
The second draft of the zoning change was approved at Shawville’s council meeting on Tuesday (Apr. 14). Gallant added that residents currently in zone C10 will have the ability to weigh in on whether they would like the change to go to a referendum, before the final draft is voted on. If more than 50 per cent of eligible voters in the zone request a vote, a referendum will take place.
“I think within the next two weeks there, we’ll probably be doing another public notice, advising anybody that resides within zone C10 that there’s going to be a registry opening for anybody who would like to see a vote,” he said.
The final draft, if approved, would then be sent to the MRC to ensure it conforms to the county’s land-use plan.
