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Storage space proposal for Alcona Home Hardware roils neighbours

'We were under the impression that Innisfil was a town committed to preserving the natural landscape and here it was being destroyed without question, in our own backyard,' said Alcona resident

Help is close to home at Home Hardware, but perhaps a bit too close for one Innisfil couple.

Alcona Home Hardware is looking to increase its outdoor storage space and feels it has the perfect location in 2125 Raynor Court. It's a parcel of land adjacent to the Innisfil Beach Road store that currently houses a single detached home also owned by local Home Hardware owners Kevin and Kelly Wilson.

But that property is next door to Megan Atkinson and Harrison Ghazouli, a young couple who didn’t sign up to live next to a storage yard when they purchased in Innisfil in 2021.

“We were under the impression that Innisfil was a town committed to preserving the natural landscape and here it was being destroyed without question, in our own backyard,” she told councillors during a public meeting on Home Hardware’s application. “When I look outside now, instead of seeing leafy maples and oaks, I see mini excavators and wood chippers.”

The property on Rayner Court is currently zoned residential. The request made by the Wilsons would see it rezoned as mixed use to allow for the area to be used as additional storage for Alcona Home Hardware, which is desperately needed for the more than 40-year-old business, Celeste Philips, planner for the applicants, told council while introducing the proposal.

So desperate, Atkinson said, that Home Hardware has been using it for storage already.

“We’re here today because Kevin Wilson is asking for permission after it has already gone through,” she said. “And should he be granted permission after making zero attempts to follow the proper channels, I fear that this will set a dangerous precedent.”

Her partner was more pointed.

“It’s really unsettling that you can beg for forgiveness, but you’re not asking for permission at this point: it’s been done,” Ghazouli said.

The Wilsons’ solicitor, Marvin Geist, took issue with the description of events from the neighbours. He told councillors that once the Wilsons were made aware they were in contrivance of the zoning bylaw, they retained Philips to begin the rezoning process.

He also argued that as owners of the property on Rayner Court, the Wilsons are allowed to make cosmetic alterations to the yard, such as the removal of trees, noting there was no tree removal bylaw in the Town of Innisfil.

“We haven’t flaunted any of your laws whatsoever,” Geist said.

Yet there might be a grey area in the current municipal rules that has made the process slightly messier in this scenario. There are six properties along Raynor Court where the town’s zoning bylaw and Official Plan designation do not align. Atkinson and Ghazouli did their homework before buying their home, they said, and determined it was zoned residential, as were the surrounding properties.

“We were obviously aware that the Home Hardware was on the other side of the fence; that was a distance we were comfortable with,” Atkinson said.

But what they – or their solicitor – missed in the home buying process, Geist said, was the Official Plan designation, which labels those properties available for commercial use. Why the zoning and the designation didn’t match was not something Geist could hypothesize.

“At the time, the town ought to have passed a zoning bylaw to go along with it, but it did not,” Geist said, adding the clients had previously submitted an application for rezoning on the lands in 2011, but it sat in abeyance until now “for one reason or another.”

That said, he argued the value of the homes on Raynor Court – including the one owned by Atkinson and Ghazouli – will actually increase in value due to this scenario, not decrease, as the couple feared. If new development occurs to the east of the Home Hardware on Innisfil Beach Road, Geist explained, the properties on Raynor Court have lots with the depth that can accommodate that, likely making them more valuable.

The zoning being requested for 2125 Raynor Court is the same zoning that already exists for Alcona Home Hardware. Councillors did not make a decision on the application at the public meeting, but will do so at a future council meeting.

Coun. Kevin Eisses showed support for the proposal prior to the comments received by Atkinson and Ghazouli.

“Forty years is a long time and the economic development we need in Innisfil, it’s great when it comes from the people who live here,” he said. “I know your heart and soul are here, so I really appreciate you investing further in the town.”

Similarly, staff did not provide an official recommendation on the application as part of the meeting, but did indicate in its report that “the proposed rezoning of the subject lands meets the town’s mission by embracing a quality of life that celebrates a small-town feel while offering a central location, comprehensive services and ease of accessibility” and that “the commercial storage uses should fit in with the surrounding character of the existing built form within the Alcona Primary Settlement Area.”

That’s cold comfort for Atkinson and Ghazouli, who provided councillors with a USB stick documenting every interaction they had with the town’s bylaw officers over the alterations and use of 2125 Raynor Court, beginning in Oct. 2021. It’s been a frustrating process for the couple that’s had them second-guessing their decision to move to Innisfil.

“I like to spend as much time as possible outside, but having these commercial activities 100 metres closer than they should has somewhat ruined that enjoyment for me,” Atkinson said. “Perhaps my partner and I would not have made the decision to move to Innisfil had we known that Kevin Wilson would devastate our property value only six months into living there.”