City of Powell River Council will consider issuing a temporary use permit for a rebuild store to be situated by the property in the vicinity of the former Inn at Westview.
At the September 20 committee of the whole meeting, councillors heard a presentation from manager of planning services Daniella Fergusson, who recommended that staff be directed to give notice of council’s intention to consider a temporary use permit to allow outdoor commercial use with accessory open storage at 7050 Alberni Street.
Fergusson said the application is for inclusion Powell River Society’s Kindred Rebuild Store, which, according to her report to the committee, would be a social enterprise. Fergusson said the reason why inclusion has applied for a permit is because open storage is not permitted in the existing C1 (general commercial) zone. She said these types of uses would be seen in industrial zoning, especially for the selling of goods such as construction supplies.
“The idea is it is a social enterprise where people donate construction supplies such as windows, doors, that kind of thing,” said Fergusson. “inclusion’s clientele can work the store and then the community can benefit from purchasing construction goods.
“The applicants are proposing to have a storefront at 7030 Alberni Street, but they also want an outdoor storage area with three sheds to have some of the bigger, bulkier goods that wouldn’t be appropriate to store inside of a storefront.”
Fergusson said the proposed area is one where it would be nice to see more commercial activity. Her recommendation is that a landscape screening plan be required, considering how visible that location is.
Fergusson said from what she understands from the applicant, there would be some fencing, the three shed buildings and the stored material. She said staff believes it would be relatively easy to deconstruct when the permit expires.
“We understand from the applicant this is not the long-term place they wish for the rebuild store to be located,” said Fergusson. “They have another site in mind but it’s not ready yet and so for the time being this is a good place to get it up and running.
“Planning staff do want to see the site redeveloped in the future. It’s a very central location in our commercial core.”
Several councillors expressed concern about the aesthetics of the outdoor site and with people dropping off materials after hours.
inclusion project manager of the proposed store Todd Clarke said he had come to the meeting to address any concerns that councillors might have. He said council had been shown photos of similar operations in other towns and they looked unsightly.
“The plan for the outdoor space is a fenced area where we can put the larger, more bulky materials and possibly have a point-of-sale system there,” added Clarke. “We are not trying to create an additional store in the space. We are just trying to have a space where we can store our large goods.”
The committee voted to direct staff to give notice of council’s intention to consider issuance of a temporary use permit.
