City Council Planning Meeting: 10-14 James Street Zoning Amendment

A public planning meeting was held on application D14-002-2026 for 10-14 James Street. The proposal would amend zoning to allow a café/restaurant use in an existing vacant building while retaining the two existing residential units on the property. No decision was made because the meeting was held to gather public and committee feedback at an early stage.

Topics Discussed

• ZONING AMENDMENT FOR 10-14 JAMES STREET: Applicants Jason Sands and Lindsay Foster presented a proposal to convert underused interior space at 14 James Street into a café/restaurant. The application would add a neighbourhood commercial use to the existing residential use. Staff said, "The purpose of the Committee meeting is to provide the applicant with an opportunity to present a potential development proposal in the early stages of development process and to seek feedback from the public and members of the Planning Committee."

• PROJECT DETAILS: The proposal includes a café with 43 seats, a seasonal takeout window at the front of the building, and a rear patio. Applicants said the two existing residential units would remain. Councillor Paul Chaves asked for clarification about whether one of the buildings would stay residential: "is there going to be a residence included with this restaurant. Or is it just a restaurant."

• REQUESTED EXEMPTIONS AND SITE LAYOUT: The application seeks zoning relief to remove the planting strip requirement and reduce the patio setback from three metres to 0.5 metres. As described at the meeting, "we're proposing to remove that requirement, and depend on fencing for buffering as opposed to planting strip requirements," and "outdoor patios talks about that distance three metres from a lot line, were proposing to reduce that to 0.5." Discussion also noted details still to be worked through later, including garbage enclosure location, walkways and landscaped open space.

• NEIGHBOURHOOD IMPACTS: Public comments focused on how the restaurant could affect nearby homes. Sky Casperson said, "our biggest concern we are a young family. We've got other young families in the area," and asked whether alcohol would be served, how it would be managed, and whether the restaurant might stay open "quite late two or three a. m." Frank Dixon also asked "how close is residential property just to the south of this location," raising questions about noise mitigation and fencing. The applicant said the business is intended to serve breakfast, lunch and early dinners rather than operate as a late-night venue, and said a noise feasibility study had been completed.

• POLICY CONTEXT AND ACCESS: The applicant said the proposal fits planning policies that allow small-scale neighbourhood commercial uses. In the presentation, the applicant said the project was intended as "small scale neighbourhood commercial use focused on pedestrians built form that's going to drive active transportation, biceless, walking, et cetera. And not be heavy dependent on vehicle use." Lindsay Foster argued there is demand from nearby workers, saying, "There is a high demand for a restaurant in this area," and that walking to downtown options "is not feasible" during a work day for employees at nearby workplaces.

Motions

• Agenda Approved — passed
• Approval of next Planning Committee meeting date (Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM) — passed
• Final decision on Application D14-002-2026 — no motion; matter was for public meeting only and no decision was made

Attendees

• Councillor Wendy Stephen
• Councillor Paul Chaves
• Jason Sands
• Lindsay Foster
• Frank Dixon
• Jack Birkham
• Sky Casperson
• Eric Peterson
• Nora Peterson