The most recent Estevan City Council meeting featured a couple of discussions around land redevelopment as issues came to the councillors' attention. The first was a request by McComb Automotive, which was looking to consolidate the eight lots on which their property was developed into a single lot.
The purpose of the change would allow the business to eliminate any issues caused by having multiple lots and allow for future expansion.
Richard Neufeld, the manager for the City of Estevan's Land Development Services, talked about the background behind the change.
"McComb Automotive has been in contact with us over the last two, three years, wanting to join a couple of their main buildings together, wanting to put another building in place of one of the older existing ones, and they keep afoul because they have lot lines going all over the place. Under our zoning by-law and also under the building code, we have restrictions on building new buildings across property lines for obvious reasons. And this will do away with that."
Neufeld says that if the consolidation moves forward, McComb would be likely to follow that up with new construction.
Councillor Tom Mauss asked Neufeld as to whether a consolidation change like this would make the tax situation different for the property and the city.
Neufeld replied that as the property gets larger, the assed value per square meter or foot would generally decrease as the parcel gets larger.
"As a good example, you wouldn't pay the same rate per acre for a quarter section as you would for a 5-acre lot if you're out in the country. So the assessed value may go down a little bit, but that is a question probably more appropriate to ask our tax assessor and [the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency]."
The motion was then accepted with all of the councillors in favour.
The second land development issue surrounds a daycare that's moving from the initial design phases to the engineering phases, with the applicant's engineering team making a request for change to the lot. These include:
- The building be moved further north on the property to provide additional clearance from the natural gas line that is located near the rear of the property.
- The building be moved further east to allow for improved vehicle access and parking at the site.
The standard setback from the front property line is 7.5 metres, with the proposal reducing that to 5.8 metres. The front yarding would also shrink from 3 metres to 2.5 metres due to the change. The question of whether to approve the changes was in front of the council since any minor variation to a building's projected setbacks must be approved by the lot's neighbour, which in this case was the City of Estevan.
Neufeld took the time to answer some of the questions he'd received from his report on the issue over the weekend.
"In terms of landscaping, this proposal reduces the front yard setback to 5.8 meters. Generally, it's about 7.5, 7.4 meters for the residents that could be on the adjoining lot, but those residences, quite often they're allowed a 2-meter approachment for a front deck, and so when you look at that, we're talking just a few centimeters difference between where this day care would be if council were to approve it and where a house with a deck would be."
Neufeld suggested that some shrubbery or other feature could be used to take care of any visual issues caused by the change. He also received confirmation from a building official that this change would not impose building restrictions on neighbouring lots.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser made the motion to accept the minor variances as requested, however she also requested to have another discussion around how to make sure the lots adjacent to the daycare site could be made more desirable for residential development. The motion was carried with all voting in favour.