Applicant Statement - 2700 Herbate Road Variance Application

2700 Herbate Road Variance Application

This letter accompanies our development variance application requesting an easement of the property line setback along our south property line, adjacent to an existing accessory building of ours. My wife and I, Brigitte Johnson, recently purchased the property along with her parents, Ken and Debora, with the intent to install a secondary suite for the long-term use by my in-laws.

We have hired Finlayson Bonet Architecture Ltd to design our current proposal. This included a site review of our property and home to determine the best approach to this renovation. Kyle Shick, of Finlayson Bonet Architecture, designed the renovation and agrees, the most economical and functional approach to achieving this secondary suite while retaining the majority of the existing house footprint, exterior wall, and roof area is to renovate the accessory building. The current footprint of the accessory building is 68 m2, we would like to add another 20 m2 of new floor area. It should be noted that this extension is towards the existing house and does not change the existing orientation of the accessory building to the south property line. The new extension brings the distance between buildings to 12’, roofline to roofline. This gap will be filled with a new hallway permanently connecting the suite to the house via a heated space. I have also reviewed our design on site with Gary Fawkes, Building Inspector of View Royal, to which he agrees we are undertaking the best approach to connect these two buildings.

The property to the south, which our existing accessory building encroaches within the set back, is completely undeveloped. There is no road access into the site, no site services installed, and the lot is completely overgrown, treed, and unmaintained. Our existing accessory building does not encroach upon any current installations or any foreseeable development of the site. Should this variance not be approved we will continue using this building and thus it will remain within the current setback.

Our plan to re-use our accessory building and connect to the main house does not change the day-to-day use of our property. The new addition will enhance the lot frontage appeal, creating a more unified appearance of the residence. From an environmental perspective, re-purposing an existing structure has far less impact. We are environmentally conscious people and would prefer to re-purpose this existing structure than build new and affect any sensitive landscape areas around the house and lake. Our property is extremely private and the proposed renovation will not affect any neighborhood views as no neighbors look onto or through our property. Access to the back yard is still retained on both sides of the house for all required seasonal maintenance and any required remediation of both the yard and backside of the house. The new extension also requires zero trees to be removed. In fact, we plan to improve the look of the property by adding more planting in our landscaping plan once we have completed the renovations.

Neighborhood street parking is not affected by the addition of this suite as our driveway currently supports 5 or more cars and in addition our house has a 1 car garage. As the residence is located off Herbate Road, the driveway was designed to accommodate vehicle traffic and parking without relying on any street parking.

The use of our accessory building as an extension of our house and additional suite is the only option that offers single level living with ground level entry. Both Ken and Debora suffer from arthritis that is a progressive disease. It is their top priority to have a suite that does not require them to use stairs and allows them to age in place. In other words a basement suite, or any other suite designed on this property, does not fit their requirements and becomes a none starter for any development. We all intend on being in this home for a very long time and are designing with the long-term needs of our family in mind. We currently have a 4-month-old baby and hope to be blessed with more children. Having Debora and Ken living in our home is an invaluable asset to our family unit. The long term plan of cohabitating, but with the privacy of individual suites, has mutual benefits of inextricable value; not only will our children benefit from having loving and helpful grandparents close by, but Ken and Debora will benefit from having Brigitte, a Registered Nurse, nearby as they age.

Many other more urban jurisdictions in the greater Victoria area allow detached suites as part of their affordable housing program, City of Victoria, and Langford to name a few. Our house is on 1.44 acres which is not a small lot compared to the more urban areas of View Royal, we feel it is not unreasonable to have the additional living quarters given the size of our property, and because this is a long term sustainable living arrangement for our family.

If this variance is not granted we are forced to consider renovating the existing building. This would not only be a huge financial burden as the cost would increase significantly to achieve the same result. Unfortunately, we have learned that our existing house is within the 7.5 m setback on our north property line. Therefore, should this variance be denied and we consider redesigning our existing house to accommodate a suite, we would find ourselves making this variance application again; but instead for easement of a property line setback for the main house. This difficult situation is our personal hardship; having purchased a house and accessory building that are both non-conforming to todays zoning bylaws. It was always our intent to live here long term with our parents to help us raise our family and having a secondary suite is essential for this to work, yet regardless how we design the suite, we are obliged to apply for this variance. The proposed plan offers our family comfortable, private, living accommodations, and simply makes the most architectural and financial sense.

We have retained JRSC Ltd to provide an assessment of our waste water system. Find enclosed with this application their assessment summary that confirms our current system can be altered to support our proposed additional suite. It is in our best interest to ensure that this system can accommodate the needs of our residence and we are committed to upgrading this service as required.

In regards to our well water quantity and quality, I have the following and attached information to confirm that our well can service our residence and suite without problem. The enclosed Thuber Engineering domestic well assessment evaluated water quantity and quality of a well located directly across Herbate Road from our property. The well and property tested is located at a higher in elevation then our own. This report concludes that the well yield is in excess of 500 igpd, provides quality water and is unlikely to adversely impact water supply or quality of any neighboring wells. I have also enclosed a certificate of analysis provided by Maxxam Analytics, which analyzed for 13 different elements in the water, concluding our well water quality meets or exceeds the Canadian Drinking Water requirements. Furthermore, I have reviewed the site with Gary Fawkes, View Royals Plumbing Inspector, and concluded that given our wells 120’ proximity to Mackenzie Lake the well is ideally situated to naturally replenish via the obvious ground water present on our property. Again, it is in our best interest to ensure that we have adequate and quality domestic water and we will ensure that this system continues to provide us with quality water service for many years to come.

We wish to ensure to you the board, that this variance request is by far the most inexpensive, environmentally friendly and unobtrusive plan to include a suite in our home without a major redesign of the existing home. We hope you can accommodate our request so we can move forward with this design and not have to change our plans to design a less appealing and functional, yet more expensive suite in our home.

Kind Regards,

Brad Johnson