It just got easier to turn your detached garage into an apartment. The wording of a bylaw in the Municipality of Chester has been successfully challenged. Development Officer, Heather Archibald, says that could mean trouble.
“The concern that could potentially crop up is our accessory structures are allowed to be closer to property lines than a main building,” she said. “If you wanted to build a home you’d have to be three meters or ten feet away from that line but as a detached garage you can go as close as two feet. So that’s a fairly significant difference.”
Archibald says that means the buildings could be quite close to their neighbour, making the street feel crowded. She says staff are continuing to work on the problem and it will be part of a larger report due in spring 2016.
