The owner of an automotive repair shop on Franklin Boulevard has been granted permission to sell up to 60 used cars on his lot at a time after appealing to the Ontario Land Tribunal over a committee of adjustment ruling last fall that denied a zone change application to allow it.
In a ruling released June 5, the tribunal's Gregory J. Ingram disagreed with city planning staff over the application by Special Interest Automobiles owner Ali Ghaddar.
Ghaddar wants to expand car sales at his 1100 Franklin Boulevard business and applied for a minor variance with the city in May 2022. Zoning on the property currently restricts auto sales to a maximum of two vehicles per service bay in keeping with the industrial classification.
Ghaddar wanted to sell up to five vehicles for each of his 12 bays, but city staff said no and the committee of adjustment denied his application last October.
Planning staff said they didn't want to see a used car lot in an industrial zone, described the request as a 250 per cent increase in sales volume and felt it would not represent a “desirable or appropriate” change at the site.
They also said it doesn't conform to the general intent and purpose of the city's official plan.
But the OLT disagreed after hearing from registered professional planner Brandon Flewwelling, who testified used car sales fit the definition of an appropriate accessory business in the city's official plan.
Flewwelling said the business has eight staff members in the service side versus two on the sales side and there are no plans for this to change. Further, he noted that the service and repair business serves between 3,500 to 4,000 vehicles per year and the sales business sells between 300 and 360 vehicles per year.
"The minor variance application would merely increase the number of vehicles being sold and not change the use of the property."
The OLT found the service side of the business will still be the primary use and said the minor variance application maintains the general intent of the zoning bylaw, which already permits car sales on the property.
It also said the city planning staff suggested there is flexibility in the number of sales permitted through zoning.
Ingram wrote in his decision that since there's no limit on the number of vehicles that can be serviced on the property now, planning staff's position on the appropriate ratio between sales and service is insignificant to the argument.
