Property owners in the Hart got approval to build a sizeable addition on their lot at the Wednesday, April 24 city council meeting despite staff recommending their application be denied.
Elijah and Mavis Kenmuir of 7822 Sabyam Rd. wanted variances to allow them to build an accessory building with a floor area of 238 square metres and a height of 7.4 metres.
A letter of intent written by Elijah said he was looking expand a pole barn on his property that he wanted to expand to house a 27-foot travel trailer, a 22-foot cargo trailer, a pickup truck, skid steer and mini-excavator.
A second letter he wrote added that he and his wife are helping raise three great-grandchildren and that the shop would be used to help them work together to fix their bikes and toys, but not louder machines like snowmobiles or noisy motorbikes.
Under the city’s zoning bylaw, a property like that in a rural residential zone could only build an accessory building with a maximum floor area of 90 square metres and a maximum height of 7.4 metres.
A report prepared by city staff ahead of the meeting stated that the building in question already has a floor size of 149 square metres and the owners do not have a permit for it. However, one of Elijah’s letters states that he was told in 2007 that he was not required to obtain a permit.
The report also points out that if approved, the accessory building would be larger than the owners’ house and that a similar application on an adjacent block for a slightly larger accessory building was rejected by council in January 2019.
Staff noted that seven letters of support from adjacent property owners were provided by the Kenmuirs as well as a letter from Elijah in his capacity as an owner of one of those adjacent properties.
“As the application is inconsistent with surrounding land uses, as well as the intent of the AR3m zone, administration does not support this application,” staff’s report concluded.
Coun. Cori Ramsay said she opposed granting the variance because she supports fairness and equity and the previous applicant on the same street was denied.
On top of that, she cited the point in staff’s report about the existing structure not having a permit. She moved for the application to be denied.
Coun. Ron Polillo said he thought the application was inconsistent with the land use for the zone, referenced staff’s point about the building being larger than the house and that there’s precedent of the 2019 rejection that should be followed.
Given the trees in the area, Coun. Brian Skakun said he thought a variance for 40 centimetres of height wasn’t a big deal.
He said he didn’t recall the reasons for the rejection in 2019, but rejecting one application doesn’t mean council has to reject another. Though the square footage would increase considerably, Skakun said it’s a large lot and he would vote against rejecting the application.
Coun. Tim Bennett said he would not be supporting the rejection for many of the same reasons as Skakun.
Coun. Trudy Klassen said she was of a similar mind to Skakun and Bennett, but the approval of nearby neighbours helped solidify her support for the application.
Mayor Simon Yu said that as an engineer by trade, adding huge garage doors to such a tall building as the applicant intends to do would require engineering services to do safely.
Should the application be approved, he said he wanted the city’s building department to make sure the owners submit technical documentation.
Ultimately, the motion to reject the application failed with only Ramsay, Polillo and Coun. Susan Scott voting in favour.
Another motion to approve the application passed with Ramsay, Polillo and Scott voting against. Coun. Kyle Sampson was not present for the meeting.
