MAPLETON – J-M Building Contractors are not allowed to continue operating from 7433 Wellington Road 7 near Alma.
On July 9, Mapleton council voted unanimously against a site-specific zoning change application from owners John and Marlene Horst.
The owners previously applied for a zoning change in 2019 to allow the business to operate from an accessory structure they were planning to build beside their home. At that time the application was denied.
The owners returned to council the following year with another application for the accessory building – this time claiming it would be for personal use only. This application was approved on the condition it only be used for personal storage.
However, J-M Building Contractors has been operating from the accessory building.
Horst said this was the plan all along, and apologized that his lawyer claimed otherwise.
The company has six employees, and Horst said there is usually one working on site. The majority of work is done off-site, he said, other than some woodworking on beams in preparation for framework.
“We are a family-owned business, offering our services to the surrounding community, and creating several job opportunities in the community,” Horst said during a delegation to council on July 9.
“We have been in operation in the existing building since 2021 and have not been addressed with any formal, written complaints.”
Several people spoke to council about the quality of the J-M Building Contractors business and about the owners’ good character.
However, as Wellington Federation of Agriculture representative Janet Harrop explained, “This has nothing to do with the merit of the business or what they contribute to the community.
“It’s really just around land use.”
Horst said the use does not take any agricultural land out of production.
The building is in close proximity to barns on two neighbouring farm properties. Those farmers have not expressed any concerns and one spoke in favour of the zoning change at a public meeting on June 11.
But Harrop expressed concern about potential future issues.
“We do see changeover in properties and ownership,” she said, “so (we) just really want to work at reducing any kind of conflict or nuisance for any kind of neighbouring property owners.”
Harrop also noted the issue speaks to why farm severances should be no more than a hectare in size.
“That is more than enough space to be able to have a home, a small out building, and a well and septic for the property.”
The 1.5-hectare property at 7433 Wellington Road 7 is the result of a surplus farm dwelling severance, and Harrop calls it an “example as to why” severances should be smaller.
“The intention of a surplus farm dwelling is it’s a residential lot … And when the parcels become larger in size, you create this conflict with their use.”
Harrop also expressed concern that rezoning the property would set a precedent.
Councillor Michael Martin shared this concern.
“If this gets approval, I don’t know how we are ever going to deny something moving forward,” Martin said.
“We have some of the best farmland right here in Mapleton, and quite frankly if we don’t protect the integrity of it, I’m not sure who is going to.”
Martin, along with councillors Marlene Ottens and Amanda Reid, said the deception in past applications plays into their decision to deny the recent application.
“That process on the whole is there for a reason,” Reid said.
Ottens said she is “always willing to work with people who make honest mistakes, who unintentionally build something without realizing its not allowed.
“It’s the intentional part of this I really struggle with. I really don’t want to reward that because … when does it stop? Then everyone can do what they want and ask for forgiveness later. And that’s not how we want to run a township.”
Martin said, “I think the goal all along here has been to establish a business on this property.”
He called it a prime example of “say what you need to get a building built.”
Martin said if the applicants had been truthful and transparent from the get-go, “arguably the building would have never drawn a permit in the first place … because its not something that we would support in that particular location.”
Martin called J-M Building Contractors “a desirable business for Mapleton” and suggested there is likely a way for the business to stay in the township.
“If there’s a will, there’s a way. The applicant has shown some real creativity in getting this building up in the first place,” he noted.
