uncil issues tear down order The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 27, 1999 - A3 a News In Brief Man’s shed not his castle A BENCH-area homeow- net who's building a huge Seven-bay shed to store vehicles and other items is : being ordered to tear most "Of the structure down, - Norm Desjardins, of 5237 Soucie, built the first , four bays of the large gar- age without any building -permits or approvals in 1995, He was working on an ‘addition to add three more bays this-summer ~ apain - with no building permits — ‘when city officials spotted the construction and slap- ‘ped a stop work order on - . the project. i City councillors last ‘week backed up staff and ‘decided Desjardins will have to abandon the addi- .tion in progress and reduce the existing four-bay shed to just two bays. At two bays, the struc~ ture will be 1,200 square feet — still above the limit of 754 square feet for ac- cessory buildings in a rural residential zone. Council- lors agreed to issue a var- iance to permit that, as long as Desjardins also re- ‘moves five much smaller structurally unsound sheds on his property. But they said they -couldn’t let Desjardins four-bay shed remain at the present 2,300 square feet and they definitely couldn’t allow him to complete the addition and increase ifs size to 3,840 square feet, “That’s about five times the size of anything that's allowed,” noted councillor Vat Gearge, adding coun- cil has in recent years turned down much more modest variance requests. “I's a matter of prece- dent.” Council’s record is split. It has granted three less far vehicles and items he's ¢ NORM DESJARDINS wanted a large storage facility colletecd over the years, but has now been given the order to tear down most of what he has built. Desjardins built four bays in 1995, saying he didn't realize there was a limit on outbuilding size as set out in a city by-law, extreme variance requests, and has rejected three others. In at least one earlier — case the city also ordered aman to tear down half of an outbuilding he’d built without a permit that ex- ceeded the size limit. Although council was sympathetic and. spent much time debating the issue, George said, the only real debate in the end was whether to let Desjar- dins keep (wo or three of the existing bays. If they enforced the letter of the law, he’d be allowed only a bit more than one bay. Going easier on Desjar- dins would have given others grounds to come back to the city and de- mand equal treatment. “You don’t do some- thing without a permit and then ask permission later,” councillor Linda Hawes added. Desjardins says he had no idea he needed a build- ing permit. “Y apologize,” he says. “I'll pay a fine if I have to. But I want to keep my four bays and to be left alone,” Desjardins has a peti- tion signed by 33 area re- sidents — virtually every homeowner in his neigh- bourhood ~ saying they including o WARRANTY . ith Your Recreation 4921 Keith Ave., Terrace Specialists B don't object to the existing Structure or the addition. “It’s not a business,” he says. “Ii’s quiet —- it doesn't bother anybody,” He’s convinced many other people on larger city lots are either building large storage areas or would like to do so. City. regulations are ab- surd, he notes, because a storage structure the same size as*his shed would be perfectly legal if il was at- tached to the house as a garage. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” he says. “It just doesn’t make sense.” Desjardins is also angry about the timing of the city’s intervention. City officials used their’ new aerial photo mapping technology to confirm that .his four-bay. structure was built recently and without a permit. _ He wishes they’d told him it was illegal when they first powered up the aeria) mapping software, rather than after he had spent $6,000 on the new addition. “They could have told me it was wrong two years ago,” Desjardins said. “Why didn’l they come then and do their jab?” Man saved from burning wreckage TERRACE RCMP say three passing motorists who pulled a 67-year-old man from a buming van just east of New Remo Friday, Oct. 15 saved the man’s life, ~ RCMP says the van’s driver, and lone occupant, may have fallen asleep at the wheel en route from Prince Rupert to Terrace, when the. 1999 Dodge Caravan he was driving slipped over a six-meter embankment. 2.002 500. ..- : . The driver sustained injuries to his pelvis and both legs. Oe The van tolled over and caught fire, when the good Samaritan pulled him out of the van to a safe distance, . City buys a house THE CITY has bought a house that was for sale at the north end of Kenney St. where it becomes Lan- fear Dr. The large property at 3315 Kenney sold for $179,000. Director of engineering Stew Christensen said the city will take a slice of land off ihe property to add to the road and then sell the house. “Our intent is to take a portion of property off so we can do some realligning of that curve a( the north end of Kenney to make it a much safer portion of road,” he said. Keep the flights if airlines merge AIR SERVICE TO northern and remote areas of the province must be preserved as part of any plan- ned merger between Air Canada and Canadian Air- lines, says the provincial government, Il also says the jobs of more than 10,000 employees of the two airlines in B.C,, affordable fares and fre- quent flycr paint programs must be kept. The points were made last week by provincial em- ployment and investment minister Mike Farnworth in announcing the hiring of a company to evaluate two competing plans to merge the two airlines, Backers of both airlines each say their respective plans are the best in order to ensure there is one strong national airline. The idea of a merger first arose when financially- strapped Canadian Airlines said it needed cash and a fe-organization to keep flying, Air B.C, a subsidiary of Air Canada, and Canadian Regional, a subsidiary of Canadian Airlines, both serve Terrace, The main floor MUST be cleared WALL TO WALL Any sensible offer will not be refused * ALL FLOOR MODELS ONLY. Forleadership that works. Re-elect Jack Talstra mayor