By Andru McCracken

It’s been the subject of much discussion, what is an appropriate use for the property located on Fifth Avenue in Valemount where the old high school used to sit?

If council supports draft changes to village zoning bylaw, that central block of land could be rezoned to a public designation saved for institutional and cultural facilities.

Donna Belanger who has been contracted by the village from the Regional District to help ‘tune up’ the zoning bylaw said that if anybody wants to put anything there except a school or a church they would need to go through a rezoning process now.

“That could be the focal point of the town,” said Belanger, of the property.

The Village of Valemount held an open house on Wednesday to discuss possible changes to zoning, like the one mentioned above. There are a few slight changes, but nothing earth shaking according to administrator Doug Fleming. He said that the process is a major tune-up, not a major overhaul.

A main feature of the updated zoning bylaw is consolidation of a few similar zones. The number of residential zones have been reduced, R1 and R2 have been combined as well as R3 and R4. Commercial zones C4 and C5 are proposed to be combined to create a new zoning called Highway Tourist Commercial. The industrial zone was eliminated completely, only one property had been zoned industrial and will now be zoned Service Commercial.

“A lot of people will look at it and say it doesn’t look any different,” said Fleming of the bylaw.

The draft changes would have some repercussions though.

Belanger said that the 8th Avenue Cul de Sac has been upgraded to R1 zoning, which means that single wide trailers are no longer allowed. “There are very few single wides there, there may be only one,” she said.

The upshot of the change is that if the single-wide trailer is damaged or burned down it will have to be upgraded to something else, and that no more single-wide trailers can be moved into the area.

“The idea is to getaway from really narrow old ugly trailers,” she said. “It is an aesthetic thing more than anything. It looks more permanent.”