Comprises are order of the day at CBS council
By Craig Westcott
CBS council has agreed to adopt an attitude of share and share alike to enable the Lions Club to build an extension onto its clubhouse so that the local food bank will have a new place to call home.
The sharing will involve the parking lot outside the Town Hall.
As it stands, the Lions Club, which is located on Minerals Road next door to the Town Hall, is already short, according to the Town’s development rules, on parking spaces. In reality, however, parking is rarely a problem for the club.
Under the rules, the club would need 243 parking spaces if it adds an extension, far more than the 35 spaces it has now. The club proposes to expand its meeting space on the second level of the extension and house the CBS – Paradise Food Bank on the main level.
Councillor-at-Large Rex Hillier explained how the club will be able to go ahead when the matter came to a vote at the July 15 public council meeting.
As a result of the motion which Hillier proposed and that council approved, the Lions Club will add eight more parking spaces to its lot and will share the parking spaces outside the Town Hall and Recreation Complex. The Town will provide “relief” from the requirement for 243 spaces.
“In having had a look at it, council’s decision was we’ve got all this parking space here at the Town Hall adjacent to that building and most of that space is empty at the time that the Lions Club would be carrying out their events in the evening. So, there will be some sharing taking place there,” Hillier said.
“It seems reasonable,” agreed Mayor Darrin Bent.
In other development news:
A longstanding wrinkle has been ironed out that will enable the property owners at 242 Dunns Hill Road in Foxtrap to finally tie into the Town’s water and sewer lines. It entailed approval of a non-conformity by council and a swap of land involving property owners.
According to the background report provided to council, the property at 242 is separated from Leewood Place by an approximately one-metre-wide strip of land, which has water and sewer service. However, because that strip belonged to the neighbouring property owner at 244 Dunns Hill, the residents of 242 were prevented from obtaining access to Leewood Place and to the water and sewer stubs located there.
But after years of wrangling, it appears a compromise has been reached. It sees the owners of 242 subdividing their property to shave off a front piece of their land and giving it to the owners of 244 in exchange for the strip that runs along Leewood Place. That will give the owners of 242 Dunns Hill frontage on Leewood and access to the water and sewer stubs.
“The owners of 242 Dunns Hill Road have advised staff that the water quality from their on-site well is poor, and they have to bring water to the dwelling in large containers,” read the background note. “The property owners are hopeful to complete this process in a timely manner in order to obtain water and sewer connection and eliminate the effort of importing water to their dwelling.”
The owners of 242 will now have to build a new driveway onto Leewood Place to give them “frontage” there and make their access to the road official.
“For as long as I can remember, since I first got on council way back in 2005, this has been an issue for this particular property,” said councillor Gerard Tilley. “They’ve been wanting to avail of water and sewer services from a particular street where their property was, but unfortunately they couldn’t do that due to a strip of property that wasn’t theirs and for whatever reason I guess they could never avail of the services. But the day has finally come where they’ve come to an agreement with the owner of the (neighbouring) property and they’re now going to subdivide that property and they’re finally going to get their wish of water and sewer, so I’m very, very happy for those residents at 242.”