MOOSE JAW — A business owner who has been attempting to sell her commercial property for more than a year is now hoping that changing the zoning to residential will bring better luck.
Xixi Cai owns 452 Athabasca Street East, which used to contain Galaxy Hobbies and Toys. She decided to sell the property because the store was unsuccessful, but found that the market conditions for selling commercial properties were poor. So, she submitted a discretionary use application to city hall seeking to change the property to a two-unit dwelling from a retail store.
The property is in the R4 core-mixed residential district, where the city classifies two-unit dwellings as discretionary use.
Cai said in her letter of application that she is closing her business because it has underperformed and because the property is in a less-than-ideal location for commercial use. Meanwhile, since Moose Jaw is facing a housing shortage, she thought returning this property to its original residential purpose could address that, “in a small but meaningful way.”
City hall issued a building permit in December 2020 to convert the original structure from a one-unit dwelling to a retail store, said a city council report presented during the June 23 meeting. Before that, the property had been used for residential purposes since at least 1961, with the earliest records referencing alterations to an existing dwelling that year.
The city permits two-unit dwellings in five zoning districts and allows such buildings in a sixth district as a discretionary use, the document continued. Most of the north side of the 400 block of Athabasca Street West is within the R4 district, while there are other districts within the area.
The city expects the effect on community infrastructure to decrease once the business owner converts the retail store into a two-unit dwelling, the report said. The proposed dwelling is expected to generate fewer vehicle trips, less noise and lower overall activity than the former retail store.
Meanwhile, the new owners can access a bus stop on Caribou Street East about 350 metres away, while the site is roughly 800 metres east of Main Street, where there are many amenities and bus stops.
The current building has retail space on the main floor and a separate office unit on the second floor, which can be accessed by a back staircase, the report continued. When the owner renovates the home into a two-unit dwelling, city hall will review those changes as part of the building permit process for a change to occupancy.
The municipality does not expect the changes to be visible from the outside, which will result in no observable effect on the nearby streetscape.
Meanwhile, the building’s front-yard setback does not comply with regulations for the R4 district, which means the property is a legally non-conforming structure under The Planning and Development Act, the report said. Yet, the property can be used and modified as long as the changes do not increase the degree of non-conformity.
The report added that the detached garage’s eavestroughs encroach over the east property line by 0.25 feet to 0.9 feet, a condition that has existed since at least 1995.
Council later voted unanimously to approve the discretionary use application for a two-unit dwelling at 452 Athabasca Street East.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 14.
