At a public meeting of Niverville’s council on the evening of Tuesday, February 18, four delegations made presentations in order to secure conditional use permits.
Home Daycare
It started off with Monique Giroux requesting to set up a French-language licensed home daycare in her home at 42 Claremont Drive. The daycare is to run on a schedule of September through June, and she is in the process of getting her license from the province.
The daycare will include five preschool spots, for those children between the age of six months and the onset of Kindergarten, as well as a few school-aged spots which will initially be filled by Giroux’s own children.
The only question raised by council pertained to parking and fencing, and CAO Eric King assured the group that the town is comfortable with the property’s current zoning conditions.
Council voted unanimously to approve the daycare for two years, after which Giroux will need to reapply.
“Daycare spots are high in demand in every community,” Mayor Myron Dyck noted to Giroux following the vote. “We appreciate you being willing to open your home.”
Rear Yard Setback
Next up was Rogue Botanicals, a company which occupies a property in the Niverville Business Park. They sought a variance to go from a 25-foot setback at the rear of their property to a 10-foot setback.
Some questions were raised about the logistics of this change, and so the owner of the business presented drawings which outlined the specifics. Following a short discussion, council voted unanimously to approve the variance.
After the vote, Councillor John Funk noted that other residents of the business park have made similar requests in the past. He recommended that council preemptively change the zoning of nearby lots to automatically include a 10-foot setback. Mayor Dyck noted that this item would be placed on the agenda for a future committee meeting.
Pharmacy at Heritage Centre
As has been previously reported, Red River Co-op intends to open a pharmacy in a vacant portion of the Niverville Heritage Centre fronting Second Avenue South. Niverville Heritage Holdings Inc., which operates the Heritage Centre, made an application to allow the pharmacy to operate in that space.
Three residents expressed their support for the application, in addition to an email from a nearby property owner.
Once again, a discussion ensued about parking. The presenter, on behalf of Niverville Heritage Holdings, indicated that there are currently 10 available parking spots, four of which are assigned to Niverville Heritage Dental, and two of which are handicap spaces. The remaining four will be reserved for the pharmacy.
Tattoo Parlour
Finally, Jason Majury brought forward an application to allow his business, Twenty-Twenty Tattoo, to open a tattoo parlour in town. The business will be located at 226 Main Street, and it will also include laser tattoo removal.
A large contingent of supporters were on hand to help buoy Majury’s request. Fourteen people spoke in favour of the tattoo parlour.
“I’ve been a tattoo artist professionally for about 13 years, and I maintain a body modification technician license with the province,” Majury told council. He added that people with this license must rewrite a test every three years to make sure they’re up to date.
King noted that the town has had discussions with the owner of the building, and the current parking is sufficient. However, the town put in place a condition stating that the parking situation could be revisited at such time as the business has more than one employer or operator working at a time.
The conditional use application was unanimously approved.
Open Health Report
Since early February, town council has been awaiting a report from Kathy McPhail, former CEO of Southern Health-Santé Sud. The purpose of this independent report is to provide council with a list of options given the uncertain fate of Open Health, Niverville’s primary health clinic.
“We’ve received the report today,” says Mayor Dyck. “We had some initial discussion about it.”
According to a separate press release issued by the Town of Niverville, members of council met with McPhail on Tuesday evening to review and discuss the report’s findings and recommendations.
“Council is encouraged by McPhail’s conclusions that clearly indicate that while healthcare services in Niverville currently face challenges, Open Health is viable and can be stabilized to provide long-term patient-focused care to our community.”
Mayor Dyck indicated that a much more detailed update will be released by the end of the week, along with news regarding council’s intended next steps.