To the Clerk of the Town of SouthBrucePeninsula:

We are the solicitors for Wayne Ward (the owner of property situated at 272 Berford Street in Wiarton) and Tom Whitcroft (the owner/operator of Thomas C. Whitcroft Funeral Home & Chapel). In light of the fact that our clients have a pending application for rezoning and redesignation which will be considered by your Council as a whole this coming Monday, February 5, 2007, we ask that you please forward a copy of this email and attachments to your Mayor and each of your councillors.

First of all, we appreciate the opportunity to provide this submission on behalf of our clients in support of the pending application. We understand that the elected officials have an obligation to reject applications which they find not be in the public interest. The purpose of this submission is to explain why our clients feel that reason, fairness and the public interest as a whole should result in approval of these applications.

The property in question is located in a prominent location at the southern entrance to Wiarton and we submit that it would be hard to find a better location for a funeral chapel. Please note that it is a chapel which is being proposed and not a funeral home. No bodies will be prepared at this location and we submit that the commercial use being proposed (i.e. a funeral chapel only) is one of the most benign commercial uses imaginable.

Our clients have complied with all of the application requirements, submitted all of the appropriate studies (including a traffic impact analysis and stormwater management report) and have satisfied all of the appropriate agencies that their application has merit. Most significantly, our client’s application is supported by the Town’s professional land use planner and we want to make sure that the Mayor and each of the councilors have had the opportunity to review Ms. Van Myall’s planning report dated January 25, 2007 – copy attached.

We understand that our client’s application was considered by your Planning Committee on January 25, 2007 and that the only opposition to our client’s applications was put forward by a neighbour (and his planner Don Scott) who voiced concerns which can be generally summarized into two general headings: parking and compatibility with surrounding land uses. Although we will be appearing with our clients on Monday to provide you with an oral presentation to respond to these concerns, we ask that Council consider the response to these concerns which has been prepared by Ms. Van Myall (copy also attached) and we understand that Ms. Van Myall will also be providing a presentation to Council on Monday.

As far as parking is concerned, our clients’ application exceeds your requirements. There is also daytime side street parking available immediately adjacent to the property. Our clients have also gone above and beyond what we believe should be required by entering into an agreement with a nearby landowner to provide overflow parking when required, an eventuality which we submit will be rare.

As far as land use compatibility is concerned, we ask Council to consider the fact that the subject property is bounded on all four sides by commercial uses: the vacant land to the south is designated commercial, four local business and the OPP station are located across Berford Street, the neighbour objecting to this proposal operates a dental office across Ames Street from the property and, perhaps most striking of all, the objecting neighbour owns a vacant lot beside the subject property which he is currently using as a parking lot for commercial purposes. Indeed, the root of the neighbour’s opposition to this proposal is the fear that our client’s proposed use of their property will interfere with the use of their parking lot (i.e. not a justifiable concern with respect to the sufficiency of parking in general) and we look forward to alleviating any concerns which Council may have on the parking issue when we appear on Monday.

In order to provide Council with an overview of the properties located in the general vicinity of the subject property, we are also attaching a map prepared by our client. Although the map is not to scale, we submit that it provides a fair representation of the surrounding uses.

In conclusion, we also ask Council to consider the overwhelming public support for this proposal which we submit will represent a dramatic improvement to this area of Berford Street and the kind of positive economic development which Wiarton should be attracting more of.

Thank-you for your consideration and we look forward to responding to any questions or concerns on Monday.

Yours very truly,

Erroll G. Treslan, LSUC #42487D
Kirby Robinson Treslan Conlan
Barristers & Solicitors
930 1st Avenue West
P.O. Box 730
Owen Sound, Ontario
Canada N4K 5W9
phone: (519) 376-7450
fax: (519) 376-8288
email: