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Use of land on Station Street of concern to staff at Town of Oliver – resolution expected today

This application is seeking a two-year temporary use permit to allow outdoor storage, limited to lumber storage, at 6036 and 6042 Station Street, legally known as Lots 11 and 12, Block 43, District Lot 2450s, SDYD, Plan 2471.

RECOMMENDATION:

That Council approve Temporary Use Permit 2019-028; and that Staff be directed to issue the permit.

That Council direct Staff to prepare a Licence of Occupation Agreement with the property owners that wish to utilize the Town owned property adjacent to their property and that staff execute the agreement based on an annual lease rate of $0.79 per ft2.

The subject properties are zoned C3 (General Commercial) and are designated by Official Community Plan 1370 as LR (Low Density Residential). The subject properties are approximately 487.7 m2 (5,250 ft2) in area and are currently being used for the outdoor storage of lumber.

In 2014, a fire destroyed a single family dwelling at 6036 Station Street which resulted in it being demolished later that year. The subject properties are in a central location with a surrounding pattern of development of commercial and industrial uses. This area was historically zoned and designated by the OCP as industrial, until the adoption of Zoning Bylaw 1350 in 2014 which changed the zoning of the area to C5 (Commercial Transition). The adoption of the current Zoning Bylaw 1380 in 2018 designated the properties as C3 (General Commercial) to bring it more in line with the CH (Commercial Highway) designation of OCP 1370 which was adopted in 2017.

Earlier this year it was brought to Staff’s attention that the subject properties are being used for the outdoor storage of lumber which is not a permitted use in the C3 zone. To remain aligned with the commercial designation of the OCP, Staff are recommending a two-year temporary use permit rather than a zoning amendment which would have allowed the use on a long-term basis. The two-year temporary use permit will allow ample time for Structurlam to explore other options for storage.

Through the application’s internal review process, it was discovered that the applicant and several other business and property owners along Station Street are utilizing the Town owned lane behind the properties without permission. Fences, structures, storage bins and waste material are encroaching onto Town property.

This is a concern for several reasons:

The Local Government Act states that a Council must NOT provide assistance to businesses such as lending money, disposing of land for less than market value, etc. Allowing several businesses to utilize Town property without compensation could be interpreted as assisting a business.

The second concern is liability issues that could arise if an incident were to occur on Town owned property being utilized exclusively by private property owners without proper insurance in place.

Council will discuss this tonight

Source: Staff report