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HAY RIVER - The fight goes on against a controversial application to rezone a lot on Hay River's Cameron Crescent.

Residents from the crescent and others along Woodland Drive have launched a petition against the move.

Ron Karp displays a couple of sheets of a petition that has been launched to stop rezoning of a lot on Hay River’s Cameron Crescent. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The application, which passed second reading of town council on July 21 by a vote of 4-2, would change the lot from institutional to multi-family residential.

The vast majority of area residents fear rezoning would lead to a multiplex in the single family dwelling neighbourhood and create traffic problems, make the area unsafe for children and lower property values.

Ron Karp, a homeowner in the area, said the petition is completely based on the Cities, Towns and Villages Act.

"There's a section in the act that allows for the making and breaking of bylaws," he said.

The petition calls on town council to submit the proposed rezoning bylaw to voters for approval based on Section 81 of the act.

That section states voters may petition council to not make a bylaw that has already passed first reading, unless it is approved by voters.

Under the act, such a petition must be signed by at least 25 per cent of eligible voters who have been resident in the municipality for at least 12 months. That means the petition must have at least 584 names of eligible voters in the community of Hay River.

"I think we're about halfway there," said Karp last week.

It is hard to say if the petition backers will get enough signatures before council votes on third reading, he said.

"Nobody knows. All you can do is try."

The task of collecting names is more difficult during the summer when so many people are out of town on vacation, he noted.

Karp said about 18 residents are bringing the petition around town looking for signatures.

Mayor Jean-Marc Miltenberger said council considers all petitions if they fit the legal description in the Cities, Towns and Villages Act.

"It's very specific in regards to the contents of a petition when it's presented for signing by the general population," he said.

Miltenberger said the municipality has sought a legal opinion regarding the contents of a petition as described in the act.

"It's their civic right to exercise their rights for a petition," the mayor said of residents in the Cameron Crescent area.

Miltenberger said the rezoning application may come up for third reading as early as Aug. 11.

The .23-hectare lot at the centre of the controversy is owned by Jeff and Erin Griffiths.

The rezoning issue is a repeat of a battle from 2004. The council of the day rejected rezoning by a vote of 4-2.

Back then, the idea was to build a 12-plex on the lot.