Correspondence: Applicant’s Letter to Mayor and Council - White Wolf Homes
A letter from the owners of White Wolf Homes explaining their business operations and the rationale for the parking variance request.
Parking Variance Request: 254 Island Highway
Dear Mayor and Council,
My wife and I are the owners of White Wolf Homes, a local, second-generation custom home building and development company. We have built a strong reputation throughout the region for high-quality construction, exceptional customer service, and meaningful community involvement.
We are writing to introduce ourselves and outline our request for a parking variance related to our interest in purchasing the commercial building located at 254 Island Highway, which has been vacant for approximately three years. The building's previous use was as a wine-making facility. Our intention is to repurpose the space as the office location for our construction company.
While the building is advertised at over 5,000 square feet, approximately one-third of the space is currently dedicated to storage. The remaining usable area—approximately 3,000 square feet—is an open-concept floor plan that would function as office space for our team.
The proposed change in use to office space requires us to apply for a parking variance. Under View Royal's standards we would be required to provide 15 parking spaces. At present, the property provides 3 designated parking stalls.
We want to provide important context regarding the actual nature of our operations, as we believe it speaks directly to the appropriateness of a variance in this case. Although we are a construction company, the overwhelming majority of our work and our employees are based on-site at our active job locations—not at our office. Our office staff typically consists of four to five people who are frequently coming and going throughout the day due to site visits and meetings, making it uncommon for the full team to be present at the same time.
Equally important is the very limited nature of our client and visitor traffic. As a construction company, our client interactions largely take place on-site at the homes we are building. We typically receive no more than one office visit from a client per month—and often less than that. Subcontractors do not come to our office at all; all trade coordination happens directly on-site. In practice, our office functions as a quiet administrative hub, not a destination for regular public or contractor traffic.
As part of our proposal, we intend to include an accessible parking space and EV charging infrastructure, as several vehicles in our fleet are electric. We will also provide both short-term and long-term bicycle parking. We will also be applying for a permit for a bathroom addition for end of ride hygiene.
From a long-term perspective, our intention is to hold this property and ideally pursue land assembly with neighbouring parcels for future redevelopment when appropriate. In the interim, activating this long-vacant building with a low-impact office use allows us to reinvest in the property while contributing positively to the local business community.
We appreciate your consideration and the work Council does to support thoughtful, community-oriented development within View Royal. We would welcome the opportunity to answer any questions or provide additional information as needed.
Respectfully,
Kyle & Ashley White Wolf Homes