The Town of Stonewall Council caught something in their capital lot levy bylaw that could have come back to haunt them in the future. Mayor Lockie McLean explains it was part of the process while they were changing a bylaw.

"We passed second reading on our Town of Stonewall zoning bylaw. And then we had some concerns with what we were doing in terms of making multi-family a permitted use in certain areas, like in the commercial area. What happened, by doing that we'd lose all authority in terms of any capital lot development fees that we may want to charge."

Multi-family dwellings include apartment blocks or condominiums. McLean says they halted the entire process.

"So, we decided that we have to pause now on the third reading in the zoning bylaw. And probably have another open hearing, and change it back to keeping it as a conditional use, and not go with what we were changing it to, which was a permitted use. What we didn't realize at the time was we would give up a lot of the ability of the town to actually administer capital lot levy fees for whatever that development is that's going to go up."

He adds they want this to be completed fairly soon, but it could take months due to requirements for another public hearing. After such a hearing they have to go back and deal with public, and then give it three readings. McLean says you never know how much input the public will want. Over the years someone might begin to pay attention to an issue, and you might get more public response than you thought. But because they've already gone through the process with a public hearing, McLean thinks the change they're returning to won't really affect many people.