Housing proposal approved

Details

Published on Friday, July 15, 2016

Photo by Eoin Devereux. The building at 244 Hamilton Street in Neepawa.

By Eoin Devereux

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

A proposal to redevelop 244 Hamilton Street in Neepawa has been approved. Naseer Chaudhry, who is the current mortgage holder on the property, was interested in renovating the space into one commercial space on the main floor and five bachelor suite units on the second floor, with a separate entrance in the back. 

Before Chaudhry could proceed with the renovation however, he required a variation on the minimal amount of parking required. The existing by-law requires that there are 1.5 available spaces per residential unit and two available spaces per commercial unit. Chaudhry wished to have it revised to one per residential and zero per commercial to accommodate his plan. After  there was an objection from the public to the proposal as presented, council decided to table the decision and discuss alternate options with the developer.

A special meeting of council was then scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, regarding the variation for 244 Hamilton Street. After deliberations with the developer following the July 5 meeting, the proposal was brought back to Council, with the plan now for the renovation of one commercial space on the main floor and four bachelor suite units on the second floor, one fewer than the original proposal. This new plan would now just require an amendment to require residential parking from 1.5 space per unit, down to one space per unit and commercial down to one from two. That variation for this renovation was approved by council, though the original by-law numbers are still in effect for the community as a whole. This revision was just for this development. A timeline for development to begin has not yet been made public, though in a previous interview with the Neepawa Banner, Chaudhry said he would like to proceed with his plans for the property as soon as possible.