MOOSE JAW — A construction company that began operating on Main Street North without first receiving approval from city hall has been given permission to continue functioning at that site.
During its May 27 regular meeting, city council unanimously approved a discretionary use application from E.A. Construction Group Ltd. for a contractor’s office and yards at 1744 Main Street North. The city zones this property as C3 vehicle-oriented commercial district, where contractor’s yards and offices are discretionary uses.
City administration recently became aware that the business was operating at that site before it had received discretionary use approval. It contacted owner Steve Kilgour to advise him about the required municipal processes to operate an office and yard at that location, a council report explained.
After receiving the owner’s application, city administration informed him that he would not be allowed to make any interior or exterior renovations to the existing building while the business licence he submitted was pending council’s approval of the proposed use at this location.
The owner would have to acquire a development/building permit if he wanted to use shipping containers on the site.
The property is 0.406 hectares/one acre in size, is west of Main Street North and has access from the Main Service Road to highways 1 and 2, while the existing building is 464.51 square metres/5,000 square feet with sufficient parking, the report said. Furthermore, there is about 1,863 square metres/20,056 square feet of storage in the rear yard.
There are also two parking spaces designated as accessible adjacent to the front entrance, as the zoning bylaw requires. Meanwhile, the existing building has been used for various retail business purposes and conforms with development standards — yard setbacks and site coverage — within the C3 district.
Zoning bylaw
The zoning bylaw says C3 districts are the only areas in the city where contractor’s offices and yards are considered discretionary use, while with a few exceptions, most industrial land where such offices and yards are permitted are south of Caribou Street and/or east of Ninth Avenue Northeast, said the report.
The closest contractor’s office and yard is roughly 920 metres north.
There is some potential conflict with nearby residential apartments adjacent to the site, but that is mitigated by a fence along the property’s western edge for security and a private lane that separates the land uses, the report added. While the principal concerns could be noise and aesthetics, neither are new, given the existing land uses and nearby highways.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 10.
