Meaford council at its planning meeting Monday night gave the thumbs-up to a local chiropractic clinic to expand its service area in order to offer more health services to the community.

Council held a public meeting to hear a re-zoning proposal to allow a chiropractic clinic located at 272 Sykes Street South operated by Dr. Irene Cop to expand the size of its operation to allow more health services in the future.

Planner/GIS Coordinator Chritine Homuth presented the proposal to council and outlined the planning applications. On the site is an existing medical clinic. The re-zoning would allow the proponent to use the entire structure to offer other medical services to the community. Parking restrictions at the site will limit the number of new practitioners allowed to operate at the clinic at any one time.

The re-zoning applies to the existing structure on the site. It changes the zoning to a residential with an exception zoning.

Homuth told council that the proposal conforms to the Meaford Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw, the Grey County Official Plan and provincial planning policies. The municipality received no comments objecting to the proposal. In addition, the public meeting was sparsely attended and featured no verbal objections to the proposal.

Members of council questioned Homuth about the parking restrictions at the site. The clinic is located on Sykes Street - a busy highway, with several commercial operations nearby.

Homuth explained that the site allowed nine total parking spaces - eight for the clinic operation and one for the residential portion of the property. She said each practitioner using the facility must have two parking spaces. The parking requirement in effect limits the number of practitioners at the site to four at any one time.

The proposal received full support from members of council.

"I think it's a good use for that property and it won't impact the highway in terms of traffic," commented councillor Gerald Shortt.

Councillor Jim McPherson wanted to know why the clinic didn't have to apply for a commercial zoning for the property and he said he had concerns about the parking and traffic issue. McPherson also suggested the municipality put a strict limit on the number of practitioners allowed to practice at the clinic.

Homuth said the residential with an exception zoning protects the residential nature of the property.

She said if it was re-zoned commercial it could be sold in the future and become a larger commercial entity.

Dr. Cop also attended the meeting and said she wanted to protect the residential nature of the property. She said if the clinic expands in the future it would possibly look for a larger commercial building. She said if that happens the current clinic could easily be converted back to a home.

Dr. Cop also asked that no limit on the number of practitioners be included in the zoning. She said she hopes to offer a broad range of health related services. She noted that some practitioners might only be at the clinic a couple hours a week.

She said a strict ceiling on the number of practitioners allowed would limit the flexibility of what services she can offer at the clinic.

Council approved the zoning in a 7-0 vote.