City of Powell River Council has granted a second temporary use permit to Broadleaf Health Collective to occupy office space in the general industrial zone on Duncan Street.
At the July 3 city council meeting, director of planning services Jason Gow said he was presenting an application to renew temporary use permit 007 to allow a personal service establishment in the M1 zone. He said in September 2022, council approved a permit for operation of a naturopathic medical office. He said the building is in the vicinity of Powell River Airport.
“A temporary use permit was required as the property is zoned general industrial, which would otherwise not permit personal services use,” said Gow. “Empowell Enterprises Inc. is seeking a renewal of temporary use permit 007 to allow the continuation of personal service establishment use on the property.
“A temporary use permit may be issued up to three years, and upon conclusion of it, the applicant may apply for renewal. A temporary use permit may only be renewed once.”
Gow said from staff’s perspective, while the operation of a medical practice on the subject property is not in keeping with the intended or desired use of the city’s industrial land base, there was the balance for the community’s ongoing need for health-care services, and the precedent established by the previous city council to permit the temporary use at 7373 Duncan Street. He said the tenant is Broadleaf Health Collective, a private medical practice providing services in naturopathic medicine, massage therapy and acupuncture.
City councillor Cindy Elliott asked about feedback from anyone in the neighbourhood, because she sees no issues that have arisen from the health collective office.
“I recall from the first kick at this temporary use permit that we had talked about perhaps changing the allowable uses for that type of zone,” said Elliott. “I don’t know what became of that. My concern is, when this temporary use permit runs out, they will have to apply for a new one. If it was a permissible use within that zone, that would not be necessary in the future.”
Gow said there was some discussion about how the city would look at property use. He said in 2022, the city was thinking about an official community plan update.
“We are not there, and so I say to you today, my hope is that in a three-year window, we are having those discussions,” said Gow. “It’s a much broader discussion about what is right for our community. That stretch of Duncan Street is an interesting one, where it is zoned general industrial, but there are a lot of uses that don’t actually fit the industrial zoning.”
Council unanimously carried a motion to renew the second temporary use permit.
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