The long talked about proposal to build a Tim Hortons in East Ladner was defeated by Delta council Monday.
In a 4-3 vote, council rejected the application that was originally submitted a couple of years ago and had gone through several revisions.
Council, which heard submissions at a public hearing a couple of weeks ago, deferred consideration at last Monday’s regular meeting following a request by Mayor Lois Jackson, who couldn’t attend. It was Jackson’s vote in the negative this week that decided the application’s fate.
Southborough Investments Ltd. was hoping to build the small restaurant with a drive-thru on a vacant lot adjacent to the Otter Co-Op gas station on Ladner Trunk Road at 64th Street.
Coun. Jeannie Kanakos brought forward the motion to deny, citing concerns about idling cars and the fact the drive-thru was right next to a private residence. She said she hoped the application would come back without the drive-thru component.
Saying she was concerned about the impact on the neighbour, since the drive-thru would operate 24 hours a day, Coun. Sylvia Bishop agreed, noting health and environmental impacts.
Coun. Robert Campbell disagreed, saying Delta’s zoning doesn’t deal with idling and that councillors should be dealing with land use, not regulating the user.
“We sit here and we are responsible for dealing with the use of the property and to deny this owner the drive-thru at this point in time, we are now regulating the user instead of the use. And that to me is something we cannot do and that is illegal under any stretch of the imagination,” he said.
Coun. Ian Paton was in favour of the application, noting it’s just a small restaurant that had the people of East Ladner excited.
“All over Delta, for many, many years, we have had drive-thrus. This is nothing new. So how do you deny the smallest Tim Hortons, possibly in B.C., because of the size of the lot, when we have McDonald’s, we have Triple-O’s, we have White Spot, we have Tim Hortons (at the) East Delta (interchange) drive-thru. We have banks in Delta that are drive-thru, we have liquor stores that are drive-thru in Delta, we even have a dry cleaner that’s a drive-thru in Delta,” Paton said.
He also pointed out council did approve a drive-thru coffee outlet at Tsawwassen Springs.
Jackson, who said she appreciated the amount of work the proponent has put into the application, said she didn’t find it acceptable that a potentially busy drive-thru could be allowed just a few feet from a home. She also said Delta council has the right to look at all the issues when considering zoning applications.
“I’m also very concerned when I hear a colleague stating that this is illegal by some stretch of the imagination. We’re here to make decisions and if something is in a bylaw, or not in a bylaw, it’s still up to this council to say yay or nay, and I think it’s going to be a frosty Friday before somebody tells me I can’t do one of those votes,” she said.
Coun. Bruce McDonald joined Paton and Campbell in favour of the application, while Jackson, Bishop, Kanakos and Heather King voted against.
The applicant, Ladner resident David Longpre, told council at the public hearing the proposal is for a very small restaurant (1,340 square feet) compared to a typical Tim Hortons (2,700 to 3,000 square feet). The design would have also reduced the time a vehicle spends in drive-thru lane, he said.
A raised median would have been added to prevent drivers on Ladner Trunk Road from making a left turn into the drive-thru.
