The following are brief reports of items discussed during a June 14 Minden Hills committee-of-the-whole meeting.
A laundry facility is being proposed for a vacant lot at the corner of Prince and Booth streets in Minden.
The facility would require the rezoning of the property from residential to commercial and during a public meeting on the proposal resident Sinclair Russell said he was concerned about placing a commercial enterprise along the mostly residential corridor of Prince Street.
A planning consultant for the applicant said the rezoning would be a logical extension of the commercial area that already exists along Booth Street.
The facility would include 40 machines and would clean laundry for area camps. It would not operate as a public laundromat although a report from the township’s planner indicated this may be part of future operations.
Councillor Jeanne Anthon said she supported new business opportunities in the community and questioned the kind of traffic flow that would be coming in and out of the proposed business.
The planning consultant said there would likely be a couple of vehicle movements per day with a truck going to pick up and then going to drop off laundry.
“I guess I would just express a general concern around our bylaws our zoning that we don’t get into creeping zoning in other words we’re creeping into residential when it wasn’t originally planned that way” Anthon said. “So my concerns rest around keeping that street looking as residential as possible.”
Mayor Brent Devolin noted that a nearby business had equipment such as loaders and graders on its property and that a laundry facility seemed to be a less intensive use.
Public input on short-term accommodations
The township plans to gather public feedback on potential municipal regulations for short-term rental accommodations. Short-term rentals such as those advertised on websites such as Airbnb have been a contentious issue within Haliburton County for years and some municipalities have established bylaws attempting mitigate or establishing a process for the practice.
“Staff are proposing a work plan which would start with public engagement via online and newspaper advertisements followed by an open house for soliciting input” read a report from planner Ian Clendening. That open house will take place in July. “This input would be considered in the development of bylaws which would be prepared for the public’s review and consideration at a second open house in September.”
Bylaws would come before council in October. The work plan will come before council at the end of the month for approval.
