Severed lot rezoned to permit existing shed
KENILWORTH – A public meeting was held here on Sept. 8 to discuss rezoning of a recently severed farm seven kilometres southeast of Arthur.
The property at 7269 Jones Baseline is designated prime agriculture and zoned agricultural and is owned by Catharine Lake, who is severing a residential lot from the farm.
The 32-hectare (79-acre) retained lot is being rezoned to prohibit any future residential development. On the severed residential parcel, owners are seeking relief to recognize the floor area of an existing accessory structure.
An existing shed on the severed lot is 245m2 whereas a maximum floor area of 227.6m2 is typically allowed for a lot of this size (0.8 hectares or two acres).
Wellington North’s zoning bylaw requires accessory buildings to not exceed 10 per cent of a property’s total lot area, “which is why the relief is required, because the lot size has decreased meaning that structure is too large for what’s required for total area of lot,” planner Jamie Barnes explained during the meeting.
A barn foundation on the severed residential lot is set to be removed as a condition of the severance application.
“Planning staff have no concerns with this application,” Barnes noted.
Councillor Lisa Hern asked if the shed could be used as a barn, noting in “the township of Wellington North, we like to have the barns removed (from severed lots).”
Chief building official Darren Jones said, “The building will now be an accessory to residential use – so an attached garage.
“The property is permitted a hobby barn, but nowhere near this size, so if they convert the use ... they would need a building permit and township staff would ensure that the proposal met current zoning.”
This rezoning is a condition of a severance application granted by Wellington County’s land division committee in February.
One neighbour attended the meeting to clarify the size of the residential lot being severed from the farm.
The owners initially submitted an application to sever 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres), but Wellington North council did not want the severance approved unless the severed portion was smaller to avoid cultivated land.
Council passed this opinion onto the county’s land division committee – the decision making authority on land severances – and the committee approved severing the smaller 0.8-hectare (two-acre) residential lot from the farm.
“The land division committee wanted a reduced size because they wanted to save the farmland,” Barnes said.
“I’m really happy where we kind of landed with the size from where we started,” Hern said.
The retained 32-hectare lot will be rezoned to prohibit residential development, because provincial policy specifies that when residential lots are severed from farmland, the retained farmland must be rezoned to prohibit residential use.
“The intention of this policy is to allow farmers to reduce their cost of acquiring additional farm parcels where the impact on existing and future farm operations can be kept to a minimum,” states a township planning report presented to council during the meeting.
