The city's administration is recommending that Prince George council deny a Hart Highway U-Haul rental business a temporary use permit (TUP) at its next meeting.
Applicant Jewel Mary Henricks is looking for the permit so that the property at 7714 Hart Highway, located on the east side of Highway 97 between Nordic Drive and Brons Road, can be used under a “vehicle rental, major” designation.
A report by city staff attached to the meeting agenda states that the property is currently used to store U-Haul trucks and trailers for rent and is currently zoned as RS1m: Suburban Residential.
“The applicant is currently storing and renting out U-Haul trucks and trailers on the subject property,” the report says.
“This exceeds the storage and Home Business Licence regulations of the Zoning Bylaw. The current ‘Vehicle Rental, Major’ use is not permitted within the RS1m zone. As such, the applicant has applied for a three-year TUP to bring the existing ‘Vehicle Rental, Major’ use into compliance at the subject property.”
According to the report, the city became aware that the applicant was operating a vehicle rental operation on the property in November 2023 and advised that it had to be brought it into compliance. The applicant for a TUP was then submitted for consideration in May 2024.
In a letter accompanying her application, Henrick’s states that she is attempting to meet a growing demand by offering the rental services. She argues that customers would likely spend 15 minutes on average at the lot and there would be two full-time staff always present on-site.
“Once the viability of the business is assessed the decision can then be made to proceed or relocate by purchasing a more suitable location,” Henricks wrote.
The city’s bylaw services department has received a single complaint regarding the business operating on the property.
In contrast, the applicant has provided the city with five letters in support of the application from owners of nearby properties as well as a supportive petition alleging to have 278 signatures. A copy of the petition is attached to the report, though the signatures themselves have been redacted by administration.
Copies of the support letters are attached to the report. All of them are signed copies of the same form letter. Two of the five letters were written by Henricks herself in her capacity as the owner of the properties immediately to the north and south of the U-Haul lot.
Though the property is a vacant lot, the report states that it is in the middle of a block and surrounded by single-detached homes.
Vehicle rentals are allowed only on properties in commercial or industrial zones “and are not seen to be compatible with residential zones.”
Furthermore, the report states that the proposed use “is not considered to be compatible within the residential area due to the potential impacts on noise and traffic, and the visual impact of a fleet storage lot for U-Haul trucks and trailers between residential properties.”
Part of this is because the city said the applicant’s application outlined the business’s operating hours are between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., seven days a week.
For those reasons, administration “is struggling to support this application as the proposed temporary use is not consistent with the policy direction of the (Official Community Plan) or surrounding land uses and is of higher intensity than would be permitted in a residential area.”
Reached by phone on Thursday, Jan. 30, Henricks said she submitted the support letters because the city sent out notices to neighbouring properties notifying them of the permit application and offering the owners the chance to comment.
She said she started operating the U-Haul business in October 2023 and didn’t know about the zoning issue until the city reached out the next month. If she’d known about the issue, she said, she would have tried to work with the city to find a solution.
“I’ve owned the two lots here for approximately 15 years,” Henricks said. “And the one lot basically has been left vacant. So I’ve been paying taxes for 15 years and got no revenue out of that property and that’s one of the reasons that I signed up to do this because I can’t afford to carry it with no income.”
As a senior with disabilities, she said, running the business is something she said she and her partner can still do.
One of the issues with the property, she said, is that it is not connected to the city’s sewer services meaning that she and her neighbours must use septic tanks. She said she’s asked the city about getting service extended to her property but was told she it would be done at her own expense at a price higher than $30,000.
“If they turn down my application, which it actually looks to me like they’re going to, what am I supposed to do with that lot?” said Henricks, who operates Hart Tax Service out of her home on an adjacent lot.
Henricks said she thinks the lot is a good location for the business because it’s on a highway frontage. She said her business is open on weekends, unlike some of the other U-Haul locations in Prince George, and it often has equipment available when other locations do not. She also argued that her business serves an underserved part of the city that is one of the fastest-growing neighbourhoods in Prince George.
In her dealings with the city, Henricks said she thought she was making progress towards getting approved for the TUP and feels misled now that administration is recommending her application be denied.
“I didn’t see any reason why it (wouldn’t be approved) because I have the support,” Henricks said referring to the petition and the letters.
“We look after the yard. There’s no damage to any other properties. There’s no damage to my property. We have had no thefts of anything here or my neighbours as well because I checked with them. I know they have problems with that downtown, so in that respect I think that this location is actually better with the deterrent because of the location for vandalism.”
Should the application be approved, Henricks said she would likely not apply for a renewal as by the end of the three years they would look at other ways to continuing operations or sell the business.
