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pensions

New guidelines and zoning amendments for B&Bs and pensions were proposed to municipal council earlier this month, but the opposition to rezoning applications for pensions is growing.

New guidelines and zoning amendments for B&Bs and pensions were proposed to municipal council earlier this month, but the opposition to rezoning applications for pensions is growing. The new guidelines, which will be the subject of a public hearing, include municipal inspections of B&Bs and pensions as a condition of business licence renewal and mandatory operation of B&Bs or pensions — within a certain time limit — once rezoning for such operations has been granted. The latter requirement has come about because the municipality suspects some people are applying for pension or B&B zoning simply to increase their property value. Mayor Ted Nebbeling noted there is more and more opposition to each pension rezoning application, and many of the opponents are saying such rezoning would affect the quality of life in their neighbourhood. "There is no right to rezoning for pensions," Nebbeling said. "It’s particularly getting out of hand where people are building new structures or homes specifically for pensions. We won’t allow an eight-bedroom single-family home, but some people are coming forward with plans for that and expecting to be rezoned for a pension." Nebbeling suggested the municipal design panel should have some method of enforcing the clause that says pensions or B&Bs must be consistent with their neighbourhoods. While a pension’s impact on the nature and character of a neighbourhood is one of the criteria council evaluates during a rezoning application, Councillor Hugh O’Reilly pointed out that the municipality has more control over pensions or B&Bs than it does over club cabins or houses employers may lease for their employees. "We have never had a complaint about a pension," O’Reilly noted.