Board overturns bylaw decision.
Couple wins appeal of CBRM zoning amendment decision
SYDNEY — A couple looking to set up a self-storage facility in the Upper Prince Street area has won an appeal of a council decision that denied their rezoning request.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has overruled a Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s vote earlier this year to refuse a land-use bylaw adjustment which would permit the couple to build a 3,600-square-foot facility on land near the corner of Green Road and Upper Prince Street in Sydney.
Last November, John and Theresa MacNeil put in a request to the CBRM to seek the zoning change.
The MacNeils currently own two other parcels of land in that area, both designated for mixed business and residential use, but the land portion in question — mainly located behind 105 Green Rd. — is zoned for residential use only. The MacNeils hoped to convert one existing building, build one new facility and, later on, a second one.
Council heard a first reading of this request in December, at which time CBRM staff was directed to schedule a public hearing for mid-January.
“The areas along Upper Prince Street does contain a mix of uses, some commercial, some light industrial, as well as some low- to mid-density residential,” CBRM planner Kristen Knudskov told council during its Jan. 26 virtual meeting. “If the amendment were to be approved ... (any) nonresidential developments, such as a self-storage facility, must be screened (off) from any adjacent residential zones.”
Knudskov then recommended that council permit the property area rezoned from residential-only usage — what the CBRM calls a “residential urban mini home zone” to mixed use known as an “arterial business corridor zone.”
RECOMMENDATION DENIED
But District 6 Coun. Glenn Paruch led council to its 9-4 vote to deny that recommendation, largely based on public complaints he and other councillors received, as well as letters expressing concerns of increased traffic, a decrease in neighbouring homes’ values, excessive noise and the potential for land contamination and the presence of rodents.
“Basically, the area residents of Green Road reached out to me, and they were opposed to it,” Paruch said Monday. “I went up to look at the site, and it was going to be in a couple of people’s backyards. And with all the phone calls I received, I decided to go to bat for them.”
According to the utility and review board, the MacNeils filed their appeal on Feb. 4, stating that the Jan. 26 motion “failed to reasonably carry out the intent of the municipal planning strategy.”
Following an April 18 hearing, wherein the MacNeils and Knudskov each presented their evidence and counsel for CBRM didn’t call for witnesses, the board concluded that “on the balance of probabilities, the appellants have met the burden of proof. The board finds that there do not appear to be any good reasons for council to have rejected the staff recommendation.”
The Cape Breton Post reached out to the MacNeils for comment but had yet to hear back by press time.
Meanwhile, CBRM spokesperson Christina Lamey said, “We just received the decision and our staff is reviewing it. They will have some discussion on it before we’re ready to make a comment.”
Paruch, however, said he’s disappointed with the board’s ruling.
“It’s disheartening. It makes me feel when we make a decision at council, is it all that it’s cracked up to be, when the end result of our decisions isn’t upheld and overruled?”