After some deliberation following a public council meeting on Tuesday, Niverville Town Council has decided to deny a variance request for a 60-unit development on 4th Avenue South.

An existing family-oriented 45-unit development from the same developer is right next to the proposed project. The developer, Luke Wiebe, told council that this new development would target more seniors and bachelors with one and two bedroom suites and as a result would need fewer parking spots than town policies call for.

Mayor Myron Dyck says council had some concerns about the developers plan to have only 1.7 parking stalls per unit.

“We have a policy of two parking stalls per unit, we were at one and a half, we understand a lot of other communities are at one and a half but whether they be one bedroom, two bedroom, or three bedroom, people just have more vehicles per unit. That is something that council is going to need to do more homework on before a reduction in our two parking stall policy is accepted.”

Dyck says a number of local residents attended the public hearing and opposed the project or asked that fewer units, more green space, or better parking be added to the plans. Councillor John Funk also voiced concerns about the number of units being squeezed into the development saying it would be like a can of sardines.

Dyck says during the construction process of the 45-unit development adjacent to the proposed project there has not been enough parking space for both residents and construction vehicles and council is worried this would happen again.

“There was some vagueness as to an agreement made verbally with a church across the street for parking whether it was during construction or things like that. is that going to be ongoing? As a town, things that are written are things that we can go by, things that are verbal kind of leave a door open.”

During Tuesday’s public hearing, council decided to table the variation request so that they could get more information before moving forward with the development, however, following the public meeting, council met to discuss the proposal and a motion to deny the variance request was passed.