Staff Report: Development Variance Permit 2023-08 – 1517 Admirals Road

DEVELOPMENT VARIANCE PERMIT 2023-08 – 1517 Admirals Road

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council authorize the issuance of Development Variance Permit 2023-08 for 1517 Admirals Road, including the following variance to Section 5.10 of Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014:

• reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces from 290 spaces to 247.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to consider a Development Variance Permit Application for the property located at 1517 Admirals Road, to permit a reduction in the total required parking on the Canadian Tire site to include the operation of a new restaurant.

TIME CRITICAL:

Notice of the Council meeting to consider this application was conducted because a variance is requested. If a decision on the application is deferred or postponed, another notice of the next Council meeting to consider this application would be required.

DISCUSSION:

The owner of unit 102 – 1517 Admirals Road applied for a business license to operate a new restaurant in the commercial retail building. Upon review of the business license application, staff noted that the site did not provide enough parking to permit the change in use from retail to restaurant. The applicant has requested an increase in the single variance of the Canadian Tire Site to reduce the total required number of parking spaces required on the site by 7 parking spaces. A parking variance is required prior to the issuance of a business license.

Last November, Council approved a development permit with variance (DP 2022-05) application to allow for a reduction in the required number of parking spaces from 283 to 247 to facilitate an addition to the existing Canadian Tire building.

Following the approval of DP 2022-05, staff discovered that the parking calculation for the development was miscalculated due to a rounding error. Furthermore, it was confirmed that unit 102 was identified as retail space on the approved plans, and not as a restaurant use. As a result, an additional two spaces are added to this variance beyond the five spaces required for the operation of the restaurant business. As a result of Council approval, the revised variance will reduce the number of required parking spaces from 290 to 247 (previously 283 to 247).

The variance can be supported because staff confirmed that prior to the Town receiving a business license application for a new restaurant, restaurant businesses have operated on this site without bylaw complaints since 2015. Furthermore, a parking study provided in 2022 as part of the DP2022-05 for the Canadian Tire building expansion, observed that the on-site parking demand is below the demand threshold during peak parking times both during the week and on weekends. A copy of the parking study is attached to this report, see Attachment 3.

It should be noted that the site currently has 205 parking spaces. The applicant is providing a payment in lieu of parking ($12,000.00 per parking space) in the amount of $504,000.00 as a condition of DP 2022-05, which is equivalent of 42 parking spaces. These 42 parking spaces were added to the total parking count required for the site, in accordance with the Zoning Bylaw.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:

There are no financial implications associated with this application.

ALTERNATIVE:

THAT Council decline this application.

CONCLUSION:

The applicant’s request for a variance to reduce the on-site parking from 290 to 247 spaces can be supported because the operation of previous businesses have not resulted in complaints or additional parking demand, and a parking study provided for the commercial expansion of the existing Canadian Tire in 2022 (DP 2022-05) observed that the site could accommodate parking demand at peak times. Staff recommend that Council approve the development variance permit application.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Site Plan prepared by MGBA Architecture + Interior Design dated October 18, 2022; information added August 17, 2023
2. Letter to Mayor and Council by Canadian Tire REIT dated August 16, 2023
3. Parking Study prepared by McElhanney dated November 10, 2022.