Members of the Town\u2019s Committee of Adjustment decided to decrease the required parking for a major redevelopment on Main Street, rather than risk losing what they referred to as an improvement to the downtown.<\/p>\n
The building, located at 19 Main Street East and currently sitting empty, also has frontage on Minerva Street. It is the same site where the main street\u2019s grocery store was once located, or more recently, the Salvation Army thrift store.<\/p>\n
The owner of the property is proposing to redevelop the existing site to include a 4,320 square foot addition at the rear of the building as well as a full second storey over the entire structure.<\/p>\n
This would result in a building with approximately 30,000 square feet of commercial space, states a report by Kristin Maxwell, Huntsville\u2019s Manager of Development Services.<\/p>\n
Greystone\u2019s Pat Dube, on behalf of the applicant, told the committee that the intent of the developer is to attract a restaurant to the site, along with other commercial tenants. He also said the proposed development would include a parkette, abutting Main Street East and the north side of the parking area off Minerva Street.<\/p>\n
Dube was before the committee on November 12, asking it to waive the required parking for the redevelopment. Under the current zoning bylaw, the owner would have to provide 111 parking spaces for such a redevelopment instead of the 40 being proposed.<\/p>\n
Committee member councillor Karin Terziano expressed concerns about decreasing the required parking as it would create a precedence for other businesses on the main street, particularly the former Empire building lot.<\/p>\n
Down the road that\u2019s going to lead to the Town being on the hook to buy land and develop more parking because there just isn\u2019t enough.Councillor Karin Terziano<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Terziano asked whether the property owner might consider cash in lieu of the parking spots, but at $3,000 a space, according to planning staff, Dube said the owner would reject the additional expenditure.<\/p>\n
Councillor Jonathan Wiebe asked whether the developer would consider decreasing the redevelopment footprint to find additional parking.<\/p>\n
Dube said depth of parking would require 20 feet, \u201cand 20 feet would take a third of his addition across the width of that building\u2026 his position is that in his deed there\u2019s a note that he can build from property line to property line,\u201d said Dube, adding that he feels pretty strongly about that.<\/p>\n
Dube said the parkette area could be reduced but said \u201cit would be a drop in the bucket\u201d in terms of the number of spaces that could be added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would probably be cheaper to build a parking lot than a parkette but in terms of the issue of parking in Huntsville are three or four or five spots really going to make a difference?\u201d said Dube, who also reminded committee that people have been enjoying free parking on that property for some time. \u201cI think not developing this property makes a big difference,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In the end, and with some hesitation, committee agreed to waive the parking requirements for the redevelopment in favour of enhancing the downtown.<\/p>\n
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