Council approves variance for new home on Wellington North farm

WELLINGTON NORTH – Councillors here were not unanimous in approving a minor variance application for a proposed new house. 

Property owners requested a variance to allow them to build a third home 246 metres (807 feet) away from the original home on their property. 

The township zoning bylaw states that homes on farms must be within 61 metres or 200 feet of each other and share a driveway. 

The 61-hectare (150-acre) property is located at 9356 Highway 6, about 10km southeast of Mount Forest, and the lands are prime agricultural and core greenlands/natural environment. 

There are already two homes on the farm that are 207 metres (680 feet) apart, because when they were built the land was two separate properties that have since merged in a farm consolidation. 

The owners are proposing to demolish one of the existing houses and build a new one an additional 39 metres (127 feet) away from the other existing house. 

Township planners say the requested relief is minor, maintains the general intent and purpose of the county’s official plan and the township’s zoning bylaw, and is desirable and appropriate. 

Property owner Rien Decker said they were not aware of the bylaw when they planned the location of the proposed house. 

It’s an ideal location, he said, because it’s further away from the highway and from the trucks and tractors coming in and out of the farm. 

Neighbour Kent Benson attended a March 23 meeting on the application and expressed opposition to what he called the “huge variance” requested. 

“The bylaws are in place to protect the public,” he said, and “it’s council’s job to follow the bylaws, not bypass them.” 

“Plus, I think you guys all know the issue with the manure tank was never solved here,” to which Mayor Andy Lennox interrupted and said that was not the issue before council. 

“One should be cleared up before the other started,” Benson said, and Lennox repeated that only the variance application was before them. 

Jake Brubacher of Legacy Contractors said the proposed location of the new house is ideal within the existing building cluster on the farm and does not take any farm land away.  

“Where [Decker] is proposing to build his house is putting the safety of his children and family [first] with moving the house a little further away from the land and slightly back from the highway,” Brubacher said. 

Decker said if the house was to be built within 61 metres, or 200 feet, of the existing house they would not meet the minimum distance separation requirements from a beef barn on a neighbouring farm. 

Councillor Penny Renken said it’s already concerning that the existing two houses are too far apart due to the amalgamation. 

She is not in support of an application to increase this distance. 

Council voted to approve the application, with only Renken opposed.