County of Barrhead may consider instituting business licencing

County of Barrhead councillors unanimously approved during their June 5 meeting a development application from a resident in the Thunder Lake area which would allow him to expand his business.

Development officer Jenny Bruns said the applicant Rod Zubot of Rod’z Mechanical Services Ltd., runs a small repair shop out of his garage, which is located on an acreage, off of Highway 18 near Thunder Lake.

“He fixes up motorcycles and things like that, mostly for personal use and the occasional friend,” she said. “Now he is looking to get access to purchasing wholesale parts and he can’t do that without having some sort of approval from the municipality.”

Bruns noted that Zubot plans to use the existing shop in his garage and the usage is allowed under the Thunder Lake Structure plan.

“All he is really doing is expanding his business a little bit. He doesn’t anticipate having to hire any additional employees or that there will be a lot of extra traffic. Basically this is just a hobby business that earns him some extra business on the side,” he said.

Reeve Doug Drozd added in order for Zubot to become a wholesaler for this parts company he needed to provide them with a copy of his business licence.

“We don’t have business licence so this is what we came up with to satisfy that requirement,” he said.

Bruns said they are considering requiring county businesses to have some sort of licencing.

“There are a lot of pluses to the system. It will help to promote our businesses a little more, give us a better understanding of what is happening, and there are a lot of economic development benefits by just giving us more information about the businesses themselves like how many employees they have,” she said.

Drozd agreed, adding it doesn’t have to be a big revenue generator.

“All it has to do is bring in enough to cover the extra administration costs,” he said. “We’ve always been proud that we don’t have business licences and as a result increase the cost of doing business in the county, but perhaps it is something we need to revisit because the benefits seem to outweigh the minimal costs.”

Second dwelling

Councillors approved an application that would allow them to construct to residences on one parcel of land, in the Dunstable area. The applicant David Isaak, plans to move a mobile home on the property while he constructs a 1,180 square foot residence that will have a basement as well as an attached garage.

“Basically they are replacing an old mobile home that they had there but has been removed and replaced it with another one,” she said, adding the reason why they want the second residence is that they are retiring and will be moving to the property along with their in-laws.

Development application

A Duncan Point Estates Quattro Management Service, will be able to build two utilitarian buildings on vacant lots —  the first one a 36 by 48 foot shop with a mezzanine while the second a 3,113 square foot shop with mezzanine as well as a gazebo. Coun. Darrell Troock and Drozd expressed their concerns about the first lot citing that the shop could be turned into a primary residence or summer home.

“A person could put their mobile home or diesel pusher and live quite comfortably in the summer months,” Drozd said.

Bruns agreed, saying she came to the same conclusion until she spoke with the developer.

“It is garage grade and will be quite utilitarian and she [developer] said there are no plans for it to be a residence,” she said.

Kiel Industrial Park

Councillors unanimously passed two subdivision applications for the Kiel Industrial Park. The first one to create a vacant 5.12 acre site the second to create a residential developed parcel of 2.30 acres being the third residential parcel out of quarter on part of SE-38-58-01-W5.

Advertising

Councillors approved an expenditure of a $271.43 for a business card sized ad in the Alberta Royal Canadian Legion’s 2019 Military Service Recognition Book.

Crime prevention coalition

In two separate motions councillors unanimously approved the terms of reference for a new partnership between Woodlands County, the Town of Barrhead, County of Barrhead, as well as the Barrhead RCMP and the Barrhead and District Rural Crime Watch Association as well as its new name, the Barrhead and Area Regional Crime Coalition (BARCC).