Brandon council approves construction of new auto dealership on flood plain

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This article was published 09/11/2017 (2986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon City Council has given Precision Toyota’s ownership the green light to build a new 27,000-square-foot dealership on its property, despite the fact it is located in a flood plain.

The property at 424 18th St. North is south of the Assiniboine River in a diked protection area.

“The dike does not provide 100 per cent protection from high water events,” city engineer Patrick Pulak said. “There’s no such thing as 100 per cent protection.”

There was a lengthy discussion on the topic at a council meeting earlier this week, and it seemed the project might be derailed or delayed. The city’s planning department requested more time before a decision was made on the variance application.

“The deferral will allow administration time to bring forward a more complete and defensible recommendation on how development should proceed in the diked flood plain area, (not just one site in isolation),” stated the council report.

The current flood design level is the elevation of the top of the dike, which is 362.5 metres above sea level. The city’s risk management group “advises against constructing the proposed building below the minimum flood design level.”

The zoning bylaw requires that the first floor of buildings are built to at least 0.6 metres above the design flood level, and the finished grade for buildings is at least 0.3 metres above. These were the two points that were ultimately waived.

Paul Roy, the lawyer representing Precision Holdings Ltd., presented to council during the public hearing. He pointed out that the group first approached the city about this project in December 2015.

“It wasn’t till October that we had an understanding that administration had serious issues with this,” he said. “If this is deferred, there are some problems for my client. They’ve made commitments to Toyota and they’re ready to go to tender.”

He pointed out that the proposed building complies in every way, except for elevation. If they were to construct to the new building above the design flood level, Roy said the floor would have to be “10 feet up from the existing grade. The floor would be at the roof level of the existing building.”

The business has been in Brandon at that location for nearly 40 years, and Roy said the owners are willing to take the risk.

“They have confidence in the dike,” he said, adding it’s a low life-safety risk, as it is not residential. “If the water comes up, they move the cars.”

The new building is a requirement of Toyota Canada, and plans have already been approved.

Roy also noted that there are multiple properties that have been built in the floodplain — multi-family residential properties on Kirkcaldy Drive, a Co-op gas station, and further south is the city’s fire hall.

“We agree that the bylaw needs to be studied but … this isn’t the project to stop because of that,” he said.

Coun. Barry Cullen (Victoria) questioned the need for more time.

“We already know the elevation of our dike, we already know the elevation of this property … by asking for more time, I don’t think you can find any solution that’s going to keep this dealership dry, or any other business.”

Coun. John LoRegio (Meadows-Waverly) said as the business has already been through floods, the owners know what to expect and are still willing to invest.

“Why are we even talking about this, they’re willing to take the risk,” he said.

Ultimately, council decided to approve the plan with some standard conditions, such as completing roadway improvements, contributing to boulevard trees and agreeing to save harmless clauses in the development agreement, among others.

Scott Ball, general manager of Precision Toyota, was pleased with council’s decision.

“It means we’re going to move forward,” he said. “We’ve been on that property a long time, so we’re pretty excited to build there again and continue on with what were doing.”

The cost of the new building is estimated at $5 million, and Ball said the plan is to have it completed by spring 2019.

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