Business wins parking rule exemption

Coast Mountain Sports has blazed a spot for other businesses to land on Free Parking.

Coast Mountain Sports has blazed a spot for other businesses to land on Free Parking.

At Monday evening’s city council meeting, members voted in favour of amending the zoning of Coast Mountain’s new digs in the former Bonanza Inn so the shop doesn’t have to meet the requirement to provide 11 off street parking spaces within 100 metres. 

The situation is forcing the city to reconsider the entire bylaw, with members noting the need to meet with downtown business owners to look at the issue.

While the Bonanza was never tied to the parking requirement, with the change in the building’s use, Coast Mountain found itself faced with trying to find the spots or being forced to pay $205,766 (at $18,706 per space not provided) into the parking reserve instead.

“It’s not really an option,” Coun. Jan Stick said as she voiced her support for permitting the zoning change.

She noted the importance of working on such projects for the downtown area.

While Coun. Florence Roberts also offered her support for the zoning change, she also said she was going into the vote rather “blindly,” not knowing how many other downtown shop owners might find themselves in the same situation as building uses change.

The Commercial Core zone, which the building fell under until Monday night, when it became Commercial Core 2 (restricted), was put in place to create a vibrant downtown and bring a heart to the city, Coun. Dave Stockdale recalled.

“I think if we start penalizing people for developing in this area, I think we’re deviating from the reason why we created Main Street in the first place,” he said.

Though Coun. Doug Graham voted along with the rest of council to allow the zoning change, he stressed the need to look at all similar situations in the downtown area.

“If we’re going to do this, then we have to repeal the bylaw or institute some changes to the bylaw that makes it fair and equitable to everybody,” he said.

“Otherwise, every time we have redevelopment in the downtown area, we’re going to have somebody coming here, and we’re going to go through the same process, which is ridiculous.”

At some point in the future, parking will be a problem, and the city will have to use the parking reserve to deal with it, Graham added.

With general agreement to look at the bylaw as a whole and deal with it, he was willing to vote in favour of the zoning amendment.

Graham also noted this marked the first time the zone had taken effect in the city.

As Stockdale argued though, decisions are based on the information available at the time, but there needs to be room for the city to make changes when issues such as this come up.

“It’s a moving target,” he said.

As Mayor Bev Buckway commented, with growth in the city comes change. With valid arguments coming from a downtown business, she noted the zoning should be amended.

The mayor also noted her disappointment that more downtown businesses didn’t come forward on the issue. There is definitely a need to discuss changing the bylaw, she added, as well as the parking reserve with downtown businesses and the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.

As Coun. Dave Austin noted, the conversion of the former Taku Hotel to retail and office space is a beneficial project, and it’s good to see such development downtown.

“But let’s get on with changing the bylaw or whatever we need to do to make it work,” he said.