Proposed redevelopment and design plans for Riverside Meadows have cleared their first hurdle.
Red Deer’s municipal planning commission has voted to recommend to city council that it approve the Riverside Meadows area redevelopment plan and Riverside Meadows community plan and residential design criteria.
City planners produced the documents with input from the Riverside Meadows Community Association and other community members.
Among other things, the Riverside Meadows area redevelopment plan calls for expansion of the district containing mixed commercial and residential development, denser development east of Kerry Wood Drive, creation of community garden plots, and development of designated care, seniors home and related uses at the Valley Park Manor nursing home site.
Commission member Doug Janssen didn’t think transportation issues were adequately addressed, particularly with Kerry Wood Drive slated to remain a two-lane road.
Tara Lodewyk, a planner with Parkland Community Planning Services, said future transportation needs would be dealt with as development occurs and specific needs can be identified.
She added that Kerry Wood Drive is considered a collector road and the plan’s authors don’t want it turned into a major traffic route.
Janssen argued that transportation needs should be dealt with now.
But other commission members were satisfied with the plan.