A mini motel is being proposed in downtown Thornbury.
At its committee of the whole meeting on July 2, Town of the Blue Mountains council heard about the plans of the owner of the building located at 1 Bruce Street to convert unused space in the building to two virtual motel units.
The proponent’s planning consultant, Kristine Loft, appeared as a delegation at the meeting and outlined the plan to turn vacant space in the building into a two-unit motel.
The motel office would be virtual, with guests booking and checking-in using their mobile devices.
A motel is a permitted use in both the town’s official plan and zoning bylaw, as the property is located in the downtown commercial area. However, the motel usage would normally require three parking spaces.
Loft explained to council that there is not enough room on the property to accommodate the additional parking spaces the motel usage would require. Current parking on the property is used by a real estate business in the building.
Loft requested that council consider charging the property owner a cash in lieu of parking fee to address the parking deficiency. Cash in lieu of parking fees are common in municipalities across the province for proposals where there is not enough physical space for parking. Loft said guests at the hotel would use parking on municipal streets or other lots.
However, the town does not have a set fee for cash in lieu of parking. It would be up to council to allow such an approach and to set a fee.
“We respectfully request, as part of this delegation, the establishment of the cash-in-lieu value,” said Loft, who said parking fees in other jurisdictions such as Barrie, Innisfil, Collingwood and Owen Sound range from $6,000 up to $7,000.
Members of council expressed skepticism about the proposal.
“Cash in lieu of parking depends on a lot of things staying the same,” said Coun. June Porter, who noted that parking conditions in the community could change significantly over time.
Coun. Shawn McKinlay said the proposal appeared to be a short term accommodation operation being called a motel.
“It looks like a short-term accommodation to me,” he said.
In response, Loft said the motel usage is permitted in the commercial zone. She noted that short-term accommodations are, by definition, a commercial usage in a residential area. Loft noted that the proposal is compliant with zoning and official plan requirements and needs site plan approval and a resolution to the parking issue to proceed.
Council chose not to take any action on the request or to provide staff with any direction on the matter and voted to receive the delegation from Loft as information.
