Things are about to get busy on the property immediately west of the Luxton Fairgrounds.
A Temporary Industrial Use permit has been granted to the owners of a set of three properties at Luxton Road and Sooke Road, adjacent to the fairgrounds, “to allow for the processing and removal of existing soil piles and excess material from re-grading of the properties,” according to a report received by the City of Langford from its planning department.
There will also be rock crushing taking place on the property, and crushed rock in excess of what is needed for the regrading of the property will be sold off.
Langford director of planning Matthew Baldwin is quick to point out that the industrial use permit is only temporary, but that it does suggest a full rezoning proposal down the line.
“I believe it’s in anticipation of future rezoning, but the property owners realize that this is a quick way of being able to get in there and starting to do the work,” Baldwin said. Since a Temporary Industrial Use permit can be granted in six to eight weeks, but a full rezoning application can take much, much longer than that, he said, this just makes sense for them.
“It also offers the city and neighbours some level of protection,” he said, in that they can revoke the permit if any of the conditions are breached during the temporary phase.
The permit was issued for a period of 12 months, and work on the site is restricted to between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The property owners, listed on city documents as 89 Chicken Ranch Ltd., must also both provide a detailed plan about dust and mud control to the city’s director of engineering and a traffic and construction parking plan to the director of engineering and the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure prior to commencing any rock crushing activities.
All stockpiles of material from the property must also be removed from the site before the expiration of the permit.