The Saugeen Shores Committee of Adjustment approved a minor variance allowing fewer than required parking spaces for an expansion of the Port Elgin Canadian Tire store. Nov 18, 2025 • The Port Elgin Canadian Tire store expansion, in the area of the current garden centre, will include 707 parking spaces, not the 730 required in the Town’s Zoning Bylaw, following a Nov. 17 minor variance approved by the Town’s Committee of Adjustment. Photo by Town of Saugeen Shores A minor variance approved by the Town of Saugeen Shores Committee of Adjustment following a public hearing Nov. 17 allows Canadian Tire to have fewer parking spaces than required for its Port Elgin expansion proposal. Committee members also approved requested zoning bylaw relief to allow a semi-detached residential development on Wellington St. in Port Elgin. This has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Committee of Adjustment (CoA) is an independent quasi-judicial body administrative tribunal that makes decisions under the Planning Act on applications for minor variance, consent, and permissions to extend or enlarge legal non-conforming uses. In a report, planner Julie Steeper said the Canadian Tire minor variance application is for a proposed retail expansion at the north end of the existing Port Elgin store. The expansion includes relocating the garden centre to the northwest of the expanded retail area, permanent removal of 17 existing parking spaces, and the temporary removal of 20 more spaces on a seasonal basis.
The bylaw calls for 730 parking spaces (including Walmart and Canadian Tire lands – and the proposal includes 707 parking spaces (676 seasonally). This has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Steeper said an earlier Town issue with the location of a temporary soil storage compound and its impact on the flow of Tim Horton’s drive-through traffic had been addressed. She reported there is sufficient space on the property to accommodate expanded commercial use, and the applicant, in its Parking Review and Transportation Impact Brief, showed the parking reduction would not impact other retail uses on the site – Tim Hortons, the gas bar, Walmart – or neighbouring highway commercial or residential uses.
A minor variance approved by the Saugeen Shores Committee of Adjustment means the Port Elgin Canadian Tire store expansion can include 707 parking spaces, not the 730 required in the Town’s Zoning Bylaw.
Wellington St. minor variance
Following a public hearing, the Committee of Adjustment approved a minor variance for a duplex on Wellington St. in Port Elgin, proposed by developer Barry’s Construction and Insultation Ltd.
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The approval allows a reduction of the minimum frontage requirement for semi-detached dwellings to 9.1m from 10m, and a reduction of the minimum interior side yard requirement to 0.9m from 1.2m required in the bylaw.
In a planning report recommending approval of the minor variance as it meets the four-item test, planner Jake Bousfield-Bastedo said once the units are built, in order to sell the units separately, they will need to apply to sever the subject property in half along a common wall, being the proposed property line.
Several committee members raised concerns with the reduced frontage requirements to permit 9.1m frontage per lot rather than the required 10m.
Bousfield-Bastedo said minimum frontage requirements maintain orderly development and ensure lots can accommodate their intended use. Other municipalities in Bruce County (South Bruce, Brockton) permit semi-detached dwellings to have a frontage of 7.5m.He noted that properties immediately to the north of the subject property contain semi-detached dwellings each with a frontage of 9.1m and that’s “sufficient frontage” for a semi-detached dwelling. This has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Concerns about privacy and the type of housing proposed were raised by one neighbour, Alicia Komejan, who wrote she won’t be able to clear snow from her roof or service her A/C unit once another house is built so close to hers. “(Having) two driveways instead of one will limit the amount of space there will be to put snow. This will also add to more traffic having two properties rather than one,” Komejan wrote, adding more traffic on Wellington St. would lead to safety issues.
She also suggested that single family homes, not a duplex, would be better suited for the site. Bousfield-Bastedo said to mitigate some of the yard privacy concerns, the applicant intends to build a single-story bungalow. He also said the reduced side yard is a “reasonable width” to access the back yard.
Approval of a minor variance by the Town’s Committee of Adjustment will allow a duplex to be built on Wellington St. in Port Elgin with reduced front and side yard setbacks.
The Committee of Adjustment decisions are final and binding only if no appeal is filed within the specified appeal period, typically 20 days. Anyone with the right to appeal can file an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) during this time, which means the decision could be reviewed and potentially changed.
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