A Castlegar hotel’s proposal to use part of its building as a self-storage facility is off to public hearing.
City council gave first two readings to an official community plan and zoning bylaw amendment Monday that would allow the SureStay Hotel to convert the former Fireside Inn banquet room for that purpose.
However, two councillors objected to the idea and others stressed they were voting in favor only so the public can get a chance to weigh in first.
The plan calls for a 300-square metre self-storage facility. A staff report noted those businesses are best suited to light industrial rather than commercial areas.
However, it noted that the banquet room has been unused for several years. Access would be from the rear and there would be little indication of the storage facility from the street. There would be 48 storage units, each a maximum of 4.6 square meters.
Council heard that the fire chief and building inspector feel having an unmonitored storage facility within a hotel presents a “potentially serous fire risk” so the hotel would have to make “significant fire protection upgrades” before an occupancy permit is issued.
Councillors Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff and Shirley Falstead voted against first and second readings.
“It is a prime commercial corridor,” Heaton-Sherstobitoff said, adding that she feels that any decision should await the completion of the city’s new official community plan. A draft is expected in the fall.
“I fear if we grant this, there no turning back,” she said. “If that hotel is not viable and the storage business is, because we have no storage facilities available for anyone right now, they may turn the whole thing into a storage facility.”
However, city planner Shannon Marshall said no concerns about the viability of the hotel had been expressed to him and pointed out the OCP and zoning amendments would require the storage facility take up no more than 7.5 per cent of the building’s overall footprint.
Councillor Darcy Bell said while he shared Heaton-Sherstobitoff’s concerns, he wanted the matter to go to a public hearing.
The city’s advisory planning commission unanimously endorsed the proposed amendments, which would be enshrined through a covenant on the property.
Immediate neighbours have already been notified of the proposal, but the city says no responses were received.
Coincidentally, the room in question was used as city council chambers until the Columbia Basin Trust building was completed in 2000.
