by Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 21, 2008

A petition has been presented to Hay River town council against a controversial proposed rezoning of a lot on Cameron Crescent.

The petition, organized by residents of the area, was delivered to town hall on Aug. 8.

Ron Karp displays a couple of sheets of a petition – which was presented to Hay River town hall on Aug. 8 – to stop rezoning of a lot on Cameron Crescent. - NNSL file photo

It contained 680 signatures, considerably more than the 584 required.

Under the Cities, Towns and Villages 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.

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

"It basically takes it out of the hands of council, and puts it in the hands of the people," said Ron Karp, a homeowner in the Cameron Crescent area and one of the petition's organizers.

Karp said organizers are now waiting on the town's senior administrative officer to declare if the petition is valid.

"If it's valid, the council has to follow the Cities, Towns and Villages Act," he said.

Karp said the organizers did everything they could to ensure people signing the petition were eligible to do so, and he is confident the petition will stand.

Mayor Jean-Marc Miltenberger said the petition is being scrutinized by the senior administrative officer to ensure the names meet the eligibility requirements of the act, noting the municipality has 30 days to do that.

Miltenberger said there will be no vote on the third reading of the rezoning application while that verification process is underway.

If the petition is found to be valid, he said council will then decide how to proceed, either by holding a separate vote of residents on the matter or waiting to ask the question as part of the next municipal general election.

The owners of the lot applied to council to have the zoning changed from institutional to multi-family residential.

The application passed second reading of town council on July 21 by a vote of 4-2.

Most area residents fear rezoning the .23-hectare lot would lead to a residential multiplex in the single-family neighbourhood, which could create traffic problems, make the area unsafe for children and lower property values.

The rezoning issue first arose in 2004, but the council of the day rejected the idea.