Council gives thumbs down to retail in Industrial Park

A proposal from a Steinbach business to relocate to the Industrial Park but include a retail component was soundly defeated by Steinbach city councillors at their July 15 meeting.

The Home Workshop applied for a conditional use for a property at 123 Industrial Road.

They proposed to put up a new building which would include space for their design studio, furniture and accessory sales, an insurance office and warehouse.

They would also have three spaces that would be available to lease.

Administration stopped short of recommending denying the application but said if passed it should have conditions including that approval would expire when retail sales end, it be subject to a development agreement, and that the conditional use apply only to The Home Workshop and not other parts of the building that would be leased.

Those conditions were also recommended by Coun. Jac Siemens who made a motion to approve. However, with no seconder willing to step forward, his motion died on the table.

Coun. Michael Zwaagstra made a motion seconded by Coun. Damian Penner to deny the application.

“We have industrial zoning for a reason and in this case here we want industrial primarily for manufacturing,” he said.

Because the city develops and sells industrial park lots on a cost recovery basis, Zwaagstra said that makes the lot prices more attractive and affordable.

“Retail is a conditional use, meaning that anytime it’s proposed we look at the individual situation,” he said. “Even though the number of customers that would be coming wouldn’t necessarily be huge, out of 2,475 sq. ft. about 1,400 of that would be for retail,”

“That’s more than half,” he added. “That seems to be more than just an incidental use of the property.”

The inclusion of several conditions required to make it palatable to council is a sign Zwaagstra said, that this isn’t the best use of the land.

“The message that we want to send is we welcome retail in Steinbach, we want to see more of it, and we want to see it in our commercial zone,” he said. “We don’t want to lose the industrial land, which is set aside for manufacturing.”

Seconder Coun. Damian Penner was joined by other councillors in expressing their support for denying the motion for the same reasons.

Even Siemens, who spoke out against the motion, said he agreed in principle with Zwaagstra’s sentiments, but added the conditional use could have been approved with conditions.

Mayor Earl Funk also voted to deny.

“This one is primarily retail, and I don’t see manufacturing coming out of it,” he said.