A community business that offers moving services will itself soon be moving — to the outskirts of Moose Jaw — so it has more room for storage and a space for its offices.
City administration received a business licence application in early April from businessman Dyllan Avinou for Moose Movers to operate at 153 North Service Road — the former Trailer World location. His company offers moving, delivery and snow removal services and currently operates at 915 High Street West.
Avinou plans to use the location to store vehicles, equipment, and materials, as well as host the administrative and customer service office, a city council report explained. However, because the business constitutes a discretionary use there — it’s in the C3 vehicle-oriented commercial district — he submitted a discretionary use application (DUA).
Council received that application for contractor’s offices and yards at 153 North Service Road during its April 22 regular meeting and unanimously approved the request.
Presentation
“… the reason I purchased (153) North Service Road is so I could expand my business and have a place to call my own,” Avinou told council.
“Over the last 10 years of serving Moose Jaw, I’ve been renting from a very good guy here in town … (but) I realized I’d rather prefer to pay my own mortgage than renting from another person.”
Coun. Jamey Logan noted that since the company works inside and outside the city, he wondered if the businessman had concerns about accessing the site from nearby intersections.
“That is something I had thought about because I know there (are) a lot of issues with the west access going down Ninth (Avenue Northwest),” said Avinou.
However, since the company normally operates “in the heart of the city,” its vehicles mainly travel on Main Street or use the cloverleaf overpass to reach their destinations, so he wasn’t worried about the troublesome highway intersection.
“I’m happy to see what you’ve done with the lot. It looks a million per cent better,” added Logan.
Coun. Kim Robinson said he had used Avinou’s services several times and thought the company was a success story. He also thought the young man was reliable and hard-working and was pleased to see the business moving forward.
Coun. Doug Blanc said he had driven by the new location and thought Avinou had done a great job of cleaning up the site since it “was an eyesore” for several years.
Background
The property is 1.457 hectares (3.6 acres) in a wedge shape between Highway 1 and the North Service Road, while the site has a 4,000-square-foot sales office and a 1,760-square-foot Quonset, both decades old, the report said.
Avinou acquired the property in late March and began removing debris and cleaning out the buildings. He intends to renovate the old sales office to serve as the administrative and customer service centre, retain the Quonset for storage and use the yard — which has more space than the High Street West location — for vehicle and trailer parking.
While four types of industrial districts permit contractor’s offices and yards, one commercial district is the only area where offices and yards are allowed for discretionary use, the document continued.
With some exceptions, most industrially zoned lands where contractor’s offices and yards are permitted are south of Caribou Street and/or east of Ninth Avenue Northeast, the report added. The nearest exceptions are industrial parcels one-kilometre southwest of Highway 1 and one parcel 1.8 kilometres northwest of the North Service Road.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, May 13.
