Spaniard’s Bay council drops the red flag on garage application
By Craig Westcott
A resident of New Harbour Road in Spaniard’s Bay who wanted a permit to operate a garage to inspect his cars before selling them has been turned down by council, but the vote was not unanimous.
Planning committee chairperson Debbie Newman made the motion to deny the request during last month’s regular public council meeting. Newman noted her committee had met with the resident.
“And although he said it was only going to be for his personal use of his cars, to inspect them and then sell them, his garage is in a residential area, which in the Town Plan… says there are no garages in residential areas,” she said. “That’s why we denied his request to move his permit from another garage to his own.”
The decision left councillor Terry Sheppard perplexed.
“I’m just wondering why (when) in this area there are garages just across the road from him that have been there for years,” Sheppard pointed out. “How do we as a Town determine that one guy across the road can have a garage with residences all around it and this guy can’t? He’s not looking for a garage where he’s going to do work on cars, he just wants to pull a car in, look at it and let it go again. Across the road there’s a garage that’s been there forever.”
Councillor Darren Smith declared a conflict of interest in the matter and left the council table.
“To my knowledge… the previous garage I think you’re referring to across the street was there before the Town Plan came in, and now that we have a Town Plan in place this new request would not fall into that category,” said Mayor Tammy Oliver.
Sheppard asked if there is any way council could approve the permit if the applicant agreed to a stipulation to only have a couple of vehicles on the property at a time.
“Or is this something we just can’t look at at all?” Sheppard asked.
“Councillor Sheppard, I’d like to say that he’s not referring to a couple of cars,” said councillor Ann Marie Singleton. “When we spoke to him, he has more than 20 cars. That’s what he mentioned.”
“He was going to inspect them and eventually sell them,” added Newman. “So, it’s more than just one, two or three vehicles.”
Sheppard said he also spoke with the man, who indicated there were no plans to have a parking lot full of cars, but rather just a couple at a time before sending them out again.
“Is that something we can look at?” Sheppard asked again.
“He wants to set up a business to inspect cars, but sell them personally,” said Singleton.
Town Manager Tony Ryan asked for permission to address council.
“The Town of Spaniard’s Bay has been regulated by a Town Plan since 1993,” said Ryan. “Any and all development since 1993 is subject to approval within the guidelines of the Town Plan. Anything that was in place prior to the Town Plan being adopted must be allowed to continue by council. The garage that you’re referring to in that neighbourhood on the other side of the street has been there long before 1993, therefore, in accordance with Regulation 49.1 of the Municipal Plan, that use is permitted to continue. Outside of that, that section of New Harbour Road is zoned Residential Medium Density and the type of operation that is being applied for does not comply with the permitted uses in a Residential Medium Density zone.”
Sheppard thanked Ryan for his input. “I want to make sure the man understands why he is being turned down if he is for that reason getting turned down,” Sheppard said.
Put to a vote, all but Sheppard voted to reject the resident’s application.
In other planning news:
Council rejected an application for a new building at 833 – 851 Conception Bay Highway.
Again, it was planning committee chairperson Newman who moved to deny the permit with Singleton seconding it.
Councillor Smith asked Newman to explain the grounds for her recommendation.
“A hundred per cent,” said Sheppard,” indicating he wanted to hear why too.
“The new build doesn’t meet the Town’s regulation as a buffer zone of 10 metres wide between any residential area needs to be in place,” said Sheppard, who then quoted the regulations. “’The buffer shall include a provision of such natural or structural barrier as may be required and maintained by the owner.’ So, he has to have a buffer zone of 10 metres along because he’s next to a residential area. Saying that, we were in for a site visit, and he has a building there, and he says he can move that into the centre. But he can’t build on the outskirts where he wants to, unless he puts a buffer zone there.”
“And that’s going to cost a lot of money,” said Singleton. “So that’s entirely up to himself. He can put the building there, but he’s got to put a buffer zone there himself, or he can move the building into the other part of the area that he was going to do in the first place.”
Sheppard asked if council hadn’t already approved an application for a new building on the site.
“It’s the same application, but they requested another on-site (visit) so planning met with them and they went over the application again,” said Mayor Oliver.
“Where’s the residential – you’re talking about a 10-metre buffer for residential, there’s no residential down there,” Sheppard said.
“Yes, there is,” said councillor Sherry Lundrigan, “Northern Pines.”
With that clarified, the motion to deny the application passed unanimously.
Council did, meanwhile, approve several other applications, the first to allow a developer to add two new one-bedroom apartments to a complex previously approved at 307 – 309 Conception Bay Highway. One of the apartments will be wheelchair accessible. The second approval was for a resident of Pondside Road to increase the height of a shed by two feet to deal with a sag in the roof, and the third approval was for a sawmill for personal use at 435 Conception Bay Highway.