Morinville Council Briefs

by Colin Smith

COMMUNITY SAFETY AND WELLBEING

A Community Safety and Well-Being Plan for Morinville was presented to Council at its regular meeting Dec. 7.

Prepared by the Canadian Municipal Network on Crime Prevention, the plan was commissioned by Council in March. It includes information drawn from a survey of Morinville residents and a community engagement process involving social service providers, general service providers and representatives from focused populations including youth, military families, and the francophone community.

The plan calls for the Town of Morinville to increase community and social supports, make more effort to deal with domestic and intimate partner violence, address housing precarity and people experiencing homelessness and put a greater focus on the needs of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

It also recommends the establishment of a permanent position to provide continuity in developing and implementing the community safety plan.

GRANDIN HEIGHTS NOW JUNIPER HEIGHTS

The Town of Morinville has officially recognized the name change of Grandin Heights to Juniper Heights.

On Tuesday council gave the third reading to the Juniper Heights Area Structure Plan Revision Bylaw which incorporates the name change made by developer TAG, also known as Trans America Group.

The Grandin of Grandin Heights is Vital-Justin Grandin, a Catholic Priest of the order of Mary the Immaculate, who was Bishop of the Diocese of St. Albert in the latter part of the 19^th Century.

Grandin is now criticized because of his advocacy of residential schools for Indigenous children.

The bylaw was given two readings at the November 23 council meeting. A motion to do three readings in one night failed at that time.

HOULE DISTRICT REZONING

Council has given first reading to a bylaw allowing for redistricting (rezoning) of a 3.04-hectare parcel of land in the Houle district of northwest Morinville.

The redistricting would be from Single Detached Residential (R1A) and Single Detached Compact Residential (R-1B) to Innovative Design Residential (R-1D).

That would enable owner Landrex Developments to expand the number of dwelling units in its proposed Heritage Village Estates subdivision from 44 to 54 single-family units.

A public hearing on the redistricting proposal will be held during the regular meeting of Council on January 25.

The land was sold to Landrex by the town earlier this year. The company expects to start developing the area next year and has done some initial pre-development work.