MOOSE JAW — Moose Jaw’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 59 is inching closer to acquiring a new home but needs city hall to first change the zoning bylaw on a potential property.
During its Oct. 7 regular meeting, city council voted 6-0 to have city administration proceed with advertising and preparing a bylaw amendment to rezone 693 Fairford Street West from M2f2 heavy industrial district and f2 flood fringe overlay district to M1f2 light industrial district and f2 flood fringe overlay district.
Coun. Jamey Logan excused himself from the vote because his company owns the building.
That property — 0.125 hectares (0.31 acres) in size — currently houses Town and Country Plumbing and Heating. The legion wants to turn the building into a private club, which is prohibited within the M2 district; rezoning to M1 would allow such an establishment to be used for discretionary purposes.
The veterans’ organization has signed a lease agreement with the business owner and plans to make interior renovations.
There is no zoning district in Moose Jaw where private clubs — which the legion is considered — are permitted, although such establishments are allowed as discretionary uses in the M1, M3, C2 and C3 districts, a council report said. City hall has few concerns about conflicts between the permitted uses in the M2 and M1 districts.
Three zoning districts intersect in this area: M2 industrial to the southwest, downtown C2 to the east and R1 residential to the north.
“It has occurred to administration that these (potential) conflicts could be reduced if the area between Ominica Street West and Fairford Street West were zoned M1 instead of M2,” the report noted.
The M1 zone generally works better as a transitional area since it excludes industrial uses that have the highest potential to conflict with other districts, but further study is required before administration brings forward any potential changes.
The existing land uses in the area — the building is on the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue Northwest and Fairford Street West — are mostly warehousing, storage and contractor offices and yards, which do not pose any major conflicts with the proposed private club, the report continued.
Once council approves the rezoning, the legion will have to submit a discretionary use application, which would enable council and administration to review the proposal in more detail, the report said. The veterans’ organization would then have to acquire development and building permits since the building was previously used as a millwork shop.
One issue the Legion faces with the property is the structure’s east side yard setback of 0.61 metres, which contradicts the zoning bylaw’s required 1.5-metre side yard setback on corner lots in the M1 and M2 districts, the document continued. However, the proposed rezoning would not change the zoning infraction since the setback is the same between the two districts on a corner lot.
As part of this zoning change, city administration plans to bring a full bylaw revision to the Nov. 25 council meeting for council to approve. This will help the legion with its goal of moving into a new home.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Oct. 21.
