Burns Lake Village Heights master plan continues

Representatives from the Village Heights master plan project held a second engagement session for public input on Dec. 7 in the Heritage Building in Burns Lake. Village Heights is a a long term residential development project in Burns Lake, for which the Village of Burns Lake has contracted True Consulting, with the support of Plan North Consulting.

The open house-style presentation was led by True Consulting Manager of Planning & Urban Design Gerry Melenka, along with Plan North Planning Consultant Amy Wainwright. The purpose of these engagement sessions is to provide council, village staff, and residents with a road map to help guide how the plan area will and can be developed over time.

“We really want to make sure that the community is involved every step of the way, and has an opportunity to provide input on the direction of the project. People who have lived here for several years have an important perspective on the overall needs of the community,” Melenka told Lakes District News.

The latest engagement session provided a summary of what was said in the previous one, which took place on Sept. 21. In terms of community suggestions for the project, it’s a bit all over the place. There were some suggestions of inputting some neighbourhood commercial aspects into the land use such as convenience stores, as well as highway commercial aspects such as restaurants, hotels and financial services.

These suggestions were disagreed with by a high majority of people who provided feedback. In fact, 23 of the 35 people who provided feedback on neighbourhood commercial use in the plan said they disagree with the idea, and 28 of 32 people said they disagree with highway commercial use.

The general consensus seems to be that the plan needs to be focused on residential use with a lot of variety. Some of the suggestions included having a mix of high density and single homes, apartment buildings, smaller housing options for people who work for minimum wage, as well as accessible housing for seniors.

People also said that there should be larger view lots over looking Burns Lake, and that in general, the development should be a mix of housing styles and sizes.

Suggestions were also given on how to ensure the project doesn’t ignore environmental aspects as well. Some people said that they believe there shouldn’t be motorized bikes or ATVs in the development, and that wildlife in the suggested area of the development need to be protected. One person suggested that all the structures be eco-friendly bu using solar and thermal power.

In addition to the engagement session, there is a survey available to provide more input, which can be accessed on the Village of Burns Lake website.

The suggested plot for the development is located in the large space of land directly north of the Lakeside Mall, on the other side of Highway 16.

“We want to make it clear, this development isn’t going to be completed even within the next 10-15 years, it’s going to be a very long process,” said Melenka.

The next step in that process is to revise the plan and make a new draft, taking into account the public input. The plan will be delivered to council in February of 2022.

READ MORE: Public information meeting for Village Heights project