City council has denied a zoning bylaw amendment for a west end property which would have accommodated an oversized garage.
After Director of Community and Development Services Mark Jensen acknowledged the hefty amount of material submitted for review on the issue in recent weeks, he told council there were some 'fundamental concerns' at play.
The property in question is located at 749 Kamiskotia Road. The owners, Lucien and Edith Giguere, built a 5,346 sq. ft. residential house in 2012, as well as a 5,000 sq. ft. accessory garage in 2016, both without proper building permits, which are legally required in Ontario for any building over 108 sq. ft.
"This is obviously something we don't want to encourage within the community," said Jensen.
The residence is within the zoning bylaw requirements, and was largely put aside regarding the proposed amendment. Jensen said there are wheels in motion to bring the house up to legally required Ontario building codes.
The focus on Monday night was the garage. The maximum size of garage allowed under the property's current zoning is 1,500 sq ft. The city also has issues with the height of the building. The zoning allows a maximum of 19.6 feet to 27.6 feet.
"The garage is simply much too large. It's just over 3.3 times larger in area than what the bylaw allows," said Jensen.
"If the applicant would have come into city hall to speak with staff about the garage, and seeking a permit for the garage, he would have been made aware of that requirement at the time, and we wouldn't be in this situation today."
He mentioned that there was plenty of interest on the outcome of this dispute from beyond Timmins.
"My staff strongly believes that if council does support moving ahead with the zoning application, what they'll be telling residents and developers is that its okay to not follow the rules. You can always go ahead and build, take your chances, don't say anything, and if you happen to be caught later, there's a process you can go through."
Jensen noted that the Gigueres said they are willing to pay their back taxes on the property, and that inspections have suggested that the giant garage is for residential purposes, and not a commercial or industrial operation.
Acting as the agent for his parents, Shayne Giguere was allowed to step forward and plead his case to council one more time. He said when this whole process began, he was told city staff would help him along so he could 'right his wrong.'
"I have co-operated, and went above and beyond, and done everything the city has asked me. I have agreed to council's request to pay five years of back tax, which is two years more than the letter of the law requires, which to me is fair. I find it troubling that the city's administration is not recommending the approval of this motion. This is what I was led to believe initially," he said, adding that he feels tearing down the garage would not benefit the city in any way.
Councillor Andrew Marks threw his support behind Giguere and later asked that the vote be deferred. He only received support from Councillor Wawrzaszek. The deferral was defeated.
Marks and Wawrzaszek, along with Mayor Black voted to approve the bylaw amendment. Voting against were Councillors Pat Bamford, Joe Campbell, Rick Dubeau, Veronica Farrell, Mike Doody, and Noella Rinaldo.
The ball is now in the Giguere's court as to how they want to proceed.
"He has the choice to appeal to the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) if he wants to, or if not, the city will commence action with the court application to have the structure removed if there can't be an amicable process to that side of it," said Black after the meeting.
He said it would be a 'sizeable reduction' to bring it back in line with the building code, and that it is 'significantly beyond' the scope of what could be considered for a minor variance allowance.
