Municipal Planning Commission
What is the MPC?
The Municipal Planning Commission or MPC is a board appointed by Council, that is comprised of 5 members; one Village Council representative and 4 Village residents.
What does the MPC do?
The MPC holds public hearings for conditional uses and variance applications. They also make the decisions as to whether the application will be approved or not.
What is a conditional use?
A conditional use allows for the use of land for purposes other than what is stated in the Zoning By-law. These are property specific and dependent on the type of use, type of property, and location of property to name a few. For example, if you wanted to run a bed and breakfast out of your dwelling, you may need to apply for a conditional use permit.
What is a variance?
A variance is required when you want to modify the dimensional standards or requirements of your property beyond what is stated in the Zoning By-law. For example, if you wanted to add a deck to your dwelling, depending on the location of your dwelling on your lot, you may need to vary your side yard or front yard setbacks based on the size of your deck.
How does the process work?
When an application is made, to the Red River Planning District, for a variation or a conditional use permit, Red River Planning and the MPC will set a date to hear the application. In an effort to avoid delays in permit processing applications are heard as soon as both the MPC and Red River Planning are available to do so.
Notice is sent out to all property owners within 100 meters of the affected property 14 days before the meeting, in accordance with Section 169 (3) of The Planning Act. Notice is also posted at a centralized public location, such as the Village of Dunnottar Administration Office, the property in question, and on the Red River Planning website.
These hearings are public, meaning that any individual is welcome to come make presentation for or against the application, or to obtain more information. Once a decision has been made, any individual who made presentation, or a designated officer of the planning board or municipality, has the right to appeal within 14 days of the original decision.
If an individual is wishing to make representation, but is unable to attend the hearing, they may submit a written representation that will be read aloud during hearing.
What is Council's Role?
Council does not have a role in the intial hearing of an application. Council, however, acts as our appeals board, and are therefore precluded from discussing any matter that is being heard, or will be heard, by the MPC as it could be considered a conflict of interest, and they would be excluded from voting on the appeal, should one occur.