A building on Manitoba Street East that once operated as a used car dealership has a new lease on life — as a used car dealership that also wraps decals around vehicles.
Business owner Grant Kosior submitted a discretionary use application to city hall in late November 2022 as part of the process to open Soni Auto Market Limited at 80 Manitoba Street East, adjacent to the SARCAN depot.
While the application was proceeding through city hall, Kosior moved into the building in December and began operating in January.
The discretionary use application landed on city council’s desk during its Feb. 13 regular meeting. Council unanimously approved the application for a “vehicle rentals, sales and service centre” as long as Kosior places concrete curb stops for parking stalls to ensure vehicles do not hang over the boulevards or sidewalks as per the zoning bylaw.
“I spoke to the folks hoping to open this business, and they are new citizens to the city and they’re quite anxious to get set up and get selling cars,” said Coun. Jamey Logan. “I’m personally in favour of another new business in the City of Moose Jaw, and because it was a car dealership in the past, I don’t see any trouble with it being a small car dealership now.
Under the City of Moose Jaw’s previous pre-2011 zoning bylaw, “automobile, trailer, board, cycle sales, including showrooms and repairs” were permitted within the C2 commercial zone (downtown core), a council report explained.
Meanwhile, the current zoning bylaw says that “vehicle rentals, sales and service centres” are a discretionary use within the C2HER high-density commercial and heritage overlay districts.
“Although the property was previously utilized as a car dealership, since the business ceased to operate for a period of one year or more, the land use is considered non-conforming under the zoning bylaw and discretionary use approval is required,” the document noted, while this land use is discretionary because it could conflict with permitted uses in some instances.
The zoning bylaw lays out criteria for reviewing discretionary use applications, including that applications conform to the Official Community Plan (OCP), the report continued. Furthermore, the OCP urges city hall to infill existing commercial areas and support and maintain the downtown as the community’s primary business, office, retail, cultural and administrative centre.
The project aligns with the OCP because:
- The closest developed industrial district where vehicle rentals, sales and service centres are permitted is roughly 555 metres west on Manitoba Street West. This light industrial area services industrial and manufacturing uses with some associated commercial and service establishments
- Off-street customer parking spaces are not required because the first 325 square metres of the building’s gross floor area is exempt in the C2HER district. Parking spaces for used vehicles will be at the front, while customer parking will be in the northeast corner
- Curbing must be no less than 150 millimetres in height
- The areas surrounding the location are C2 high-density commercial districts and not within the heritage overlay district.
- The C2HER district’s purpose is to provide an area with various commercial, institutional and residential uses in high-density form, while the heritage overlay district’s purpose is to protect and allow appropriate development of identified heritage properties and ensure adjacent properties are developed in a compatible, architecturally sensitive manner
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 27.
