Saanich is about to correct a zoning mistake said to be decades in the making.
Council has scheduled a public hearing to rezone a property, whose owner claims that it was incorrectly rezoned.
Klaas Jansma, owner of Glanford Auto Service, has asked for the rezoning with an eye towards selling his business.
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“Since I am soon to be 75, and I don’t want to work 50 hours plus a week for the rest of my life, I thought it best I apply for the correct zoning, so that any future owners of Glanford Auto Services would start on the right foot,” he said.
The zoning issues date back to the early 1980s, said Jansma. “When I bought the property in 1972, it was an auto repair shop and a service station selling fuel,” he said. “When the Royal Oak Industrial Park was created in early 1980s, my property was rezoned to C-9 by Saanich with no consultation with me. Later on, when I studied the zoning, I realized that I had been rezoned incorrectly at that time.”
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The C-9 zoning permits service stations, accessory retail sales and cable hub sites, but not auto repair. Jansma now wants his property to have a C-8 zoning, which permits servicing and repair of motor vehicles.
Appearing before council, Jansma described the rezoning as a “frustrating process” during which he has largely accepted Saanich’s requirements “under duress.”
He lamented specifically the loss of property for a public road allowance and the requirement to plant trees.
The public heard from staff the road allowance is a requirement for corner lots like Jansma’s under Saanich’s subdivision bylaw to accommodate pedestrian sidewalks and traffic signal equipment. The public also heard that the two sides agreed to a compromise under which Jansma would pay $2,550 to plant two trees elsewhere in Saanich.
Without the compromise, Jansma would have been on the hook for $8,550 to plant the trees on his property. The trees would have had separately controlled irrigation and water metres.
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