Hanover council approves 4,000 sq-ft addition to shop space

The RM of Hanover council has approved an almost 4,000 sq-ft addition to a shop space located at 52 Homestead Cres.

The applicant Ralph Toews owns RT Signs and wanted to increase the size of his shop from 2,311 sq-ft to 6,179 sq-ft. The shop has been in operation since 2005.

“RT Signs is success story in the RM of Hanover and has proven to be a good member of the community,” wrote planner Amos Wiebe in administration’s review of the variance application, something that was acknowledged by council during deliberations.

The building is in a Rural Residential area but his plot has been designated as a commercial zone and this brought up concerns from Coun. Travis Doerksen who thought the shop was “unusually large” to be in a residential area.

“Normally when a business gets to that size we’re always there to encourage them to go to the small industrial route. For reasons, one is traffic obviously, two is potential for subdividing it or a larger company coming in there and disturbing the rural residential areas. Those are for sure concerns,” he said.

Toews said he looked for a spot in the industrial zone and this was his best option.

Coun. Roberto Hiebert had concerns of what would go into the shop should Toews sell it. Toews told council he had no plans on expanding further in the future than the proposed expansion and that the business would be passed on to his sons who are already involved with RT Signs.

Planning manager Jeremy Neufeld recalled that there was an instance of a really large businesses in a Rural Residential zone, but that this was more common in Agriculture Limited properties.

Doerksen said there was a construction company in Mitchell that wanted to expand its shop to a large size and they were turned down.

Council voted to approve the shop expansion with Doerksen and Hiebert voting against the measure.