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Council notes: Former Bible college could be christened a shopping centre

Council will consider a zoning change to the property at Lewvan Drive and Fourth Avenue on Monday, as well as votes on pot shops and a condo trash tax rebate

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It’s been 15 years since the Canadian Bible College packed up and left Regina for Calgary, and now its former lodgings could be reconceived as a shopping centre.

There are no immediate plans for changes to the landmark building at Lewvan Drive and Fourth Avenue, but city council is set to consider a proposal to “facilitate an eventual sale and redevelopment.” If passed, it would rezone the property from “institutional” to “designated shopping centre.”

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After Canadian Bible College’s departure, the building accommodated Western Christian College until it closed in 2012. Currently known as the Orr Centre, it now houses a daycare, an auditorium and the Regina campus of the University of Saskatchewan’s nursing program — as well as offices and residences.

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According to the proposal, which will come before council on Monday, those tenants wouldn’t be affected by the rezoning move. City administration is recommending a special status for the property that would require a redevelopment plan and council approval before large-scale changes could come to the existing site.

The idea of a shopping centre at the corner — on the outer edge of the Rosemont-Mount Royal neighbourhood — is proving somewhat divisive. Of 34 people who provided feedback at an open house, only 11 supported the proposal. Fourteen were “completely opposed.”

CONDOMINIUM OWNERS SEEK TRASH TAX REBATE

Council is set to hear from a lineup of angry condo owners on Monday, as it weighs a motion from Coun. Jerry Flegel to restore a condo trash rebate it threw out last year.

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Starting in 2002, condo owners received a payment to offset the tax dollars they shell out for the city garbage trucks that pass them by. But council axed the program in 2017 to fill in the budget hole left by the provincial government.

In this year’s budget deliberations, councillors chose not to resurrect the rebate. But Flegel is seeking to change that with his motion, which would direct administration to study the “costs and implications” of bringing it back.

Delegations from the Westfield Twins and Prescott condo corporations are set to speak in favour of Flegel’s motion.

“Condo owners pay taxes at the same rate as other homeowners and expect to receive the same services that other homeowners receive — no more, no less,” Prescott’s Norm Brown wrote in his submission. 

COUNCILLORS REHASH MARIJUANA ZONING

Another pot shop vote seems destined to pit Coun. Bob Hawkins against his more pot-permissive colleagues.

The occasion is a slew of proposed bylaw changes that met with the approval of Regina’s planning commissioners early this month. The commissioners voted in favour of administration’s plan to allow marijuana dispensaries in some major commercial areas — and to impose a 600-metre buffer separating the pot shops from kid-friendly spots such as schools, parks and daycares.

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But Hawkins wanted far stricter measures, saying a wider buffer is needed to protect young people. His amendments also would have effectively banished pot shops from the downtown. They all failed.

Hawkins has nonetheless vowed to try again at Monday’s council meeting.

“If it comes to a choice between protecting young people or promoting retail of marijuana, I’m voting for protecting young people,” he said at the time of the planning commission debate.

Hawkins has sometimes found support from a handful of councillors on some efforts to water down marijuana moves at council — but his more ambitious anti-pot pushes have always come to nought.

awhite-crummey@postmedia.com

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