A matter of shifting a piece of land from one property to its neighbour meant a bit of fancy footwork from Pembroke’s planning department.

Colleen Sauriol, manager of the city’s planning and building departments, explained the situation regarding the properties located at 152 Cecelia Street and its neighbour 160 Cecelia Street to the planning advisory and adjustment committee this week.

She explained the owner of both properties, Brian Tracey, wanted to sever a piece of land from 160 Ceceilia, which is currently part of a site including a 12-unit apartment building, and transfer it to 152 Cecelia, once the location of a seven-unit apartment building, but now converted into a single unit house.

“Mr. Tracey is looking to sell 152 Cecelia, and wanted to add to the backyard,” Ms. Sauriol said. The location of the piece of land is directly behind the house, so it already looks like it is part of the property.

To make this happen, both sites will have to be rezoned, and an exception for parking be included for 160 Cecelia, as the land being severed once formed part of its parking requirements.

Ms. Sauriol explained the city’s zoning bylaw requires 1.5 parking spaces be provided for each apartment unit, meaning a total of 18 spaces would be needed for a 12-unit building. With the transfer of the land, there would only be 13 spaces available on the site.

She said a survey of other apartment buildings within the area showed they had only one parking space for each unit.

Ms. Sauriol added there have been no objections or concerns raised about the idea, so there was no real reason why it couldn’t proceed as proposed.

A public meeting will be held Sept. 18, at 7 p.m., after which the proposed rezoning will be voted on by city council.

Stephen Uhler is a Daily

stephen.uhler@sunmedia.ca