Grand Forks City Council Discusses U-Haul Proposal

Grand Forks City Council reluctantly gave first two readings to a Zoning Bylaw and Official Community Plan amendment earlier this week, July 11^th.

The proponent wishes to accommodate the storage and rental of U-Haul vehicles and equipment at 1980 68th Avenue. Some Councillors feel the proposal would be better suited some place else, as one of the Official Community Plan’s priorities is Neighborhood Nodes; small-format commercial and retail that services the daily needs of growing neighbourhoods. The U-Haul facility would service the larger community instead of the local neighbourhood, which doesn't support the OCP’s direction.

Councillor Cathy Korolek called the proposal a terrible location:

“…. We’re trying to build up neighbourhoods and encourage these nodes and things like that and having U-Hauls or whatever…. They are stacked all over and you can see them on Highway-3 by, or wherever they were stored before. They’re all different sizes and they’re everywhere….”

Councillor Neil Krog points out that the parcel of land already has a mechanic and other amenities nearby:

“…. So it’s not putting it in the middle of a residential area. It’s always been there and if you look at the setup with the smaller shop and the amount of parking on the side; I think it would be an awesome place for it….”

Councillor Everett Baker says he's only supporting staff's recommendation to get this topic to residents at a Public Hearing:

“…. If the owner could maybe look at trying to get property up on Donaldson or something like that where it fits in a bit more to the…. I think that we’re kind of defeating our purposes of having an OCP and then all of a sudden having to amend it for this purpose.”

Councillor Thompson was also unhappy with the proposed location but keen on progressing the item to a Public Hearing to gain further feedback.