Whitehorse Daily Star

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‘A SLAP IN THE FACE’ – Edwin Woloshyn and Jocelyn Agus discuss their plight surrounding their planned childcare centre Monday evening with members of city council.

Childcare centre OKed despite change of plans

Zoning has been put in place to allow a childcare centre

By Stephanie Waddell on October 25, 2016

Zoning has been put in place to allow a childcare centre in an empty building next to the SKKY Hotel even though a patisserie (a French pastry shop) is now being planned for the site.

At Monday’s council meeting, members were unanimous in voting for the rezoning. It would allow the childcare centre along with the other uses permitted in the Highway Commercial-zoned property.

The vote came following a presentation by the prospective owners of the childcare centre – Edwin Woloshyn and Jocelyn Agus – who made it clear they had not tried to get out of an agreement to lease the building as an earlier administrative report to council had indicated.

“We have never opted out,” Woloshyn said.

Woloshyn instead ran through the course of events in what he and Agus thought would end in Agus’ dream of owning a daycare in Hillcrest.

Talks have been underway for some time with Frank Calandra, who owns the SKKY Hotel and the property, which includes the building next to it at 16 Burns Rd. off the Alaska Highway.

Last July, they received Calandra’s go-ahead to apply for the rezoning which would allow the childcare centre.

In making the application, Agus collected signatures from local residents and businesses showing support for the plans, as well as getting the endorsement of the Hillcrest Community Association.

With council on its scheduled summer recess for much of August, the rezoning was delayed in coming forward to council, Woloshyn said.

He added that Calandra was provided with all the dates for the rezoning. All seemed to be well when they informed Calandra of the potential schedule for the rezoning.

It was in early October that everything changed, and Calandra informed them a different tenant would be leasing the building for a patisserie.

“We are kind of astonished,” Woloshyn said. “To us, a deal is a deal.”

Agus has already purchased a full complement of supplies for the childcare centre she had expected to open toward the end of the year. They now take up about half the space in her and Woloshyn’s garage.

They asked council to postpone second and third readings of the rezoning for six months. If not, they said, they wanted to see the application for rezoning withdrawn.

As Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, informed council though, the application remained in good standing, with the property owner wanting to move forward with it.

While Woloshyn and Agus were listed as having authorization for Calandra on the rezoning application, he has since had their names removed.

A lengthy discussion among council members preceded the vote last night. They debated whether to postpone the matter by a couple of weeks to look into the situation further.

Coun. Dan Boyd, who attended the meeting via conference call, noted he had initially been led to believe it was the operators of the proposed childcare centre who had withdrawn from the application.

“That’s clearly not the case,” he said.

Gau made it clear that council has the discretion to defer a vote,.

He also pointed out when it comes to zoning matters, the decision council makes must view it from a land use perspective: whether the proposed zoning is an appropriate use of the land and good fit for the area.

Mayor Dan Curtis said though it does seem to be an unfortunate situation with the lease, ultimately it’s the prerogative of the property owner to decide who to rent too.

“I don’t feel it’s the purview of council,” he said of the city getting involved in a lease dispute.

Council unanimously voted in favour of the rezoning, despite some initial reluctance.

Outside council chambers following the vote, Woloshyn and Agus expressed disappointment in the vote. They noted the extensive work they had put into pursuing the rezoning for Agus’ planned childcare centre.

“All of a sudden, we lose control,” Woloshyn said.

He acknowledged that the lease agreement had not been “inked out totally,” as everything had hinged on the rezoning application.

After a public hearing, where the city had received just one letter expressing support for the plans, with some concerns over access, it had appeared the rezoning would be a “slam dunk”.

That was until Calandra told them he was going with another potential tenant.

“This is just a slap in the face,” Woloshyn said, adding he is looking at taking legal action on the matter.

He had asked the city to delay the vote by six months, he said, because Calandra had told them that should the new business not work out as planned, their daycare would be given the first opportunity to lease the space.

This morning, Calandra explained he had asked Woloshyn and Agus for a deposit on the lease that would be returned if the zoning wasn’t approved. There was no formal agreement signed nor any deposit put down for the building, he said.

There would be no way for him to recoup funds if he turned down another lease offer and Woloshyn and Agus opted not to move forward with their plans, he pointed out.

Without an agreement signed off, they would also have the option to pursue other sites as well, he pointed out.

When another tenant came along with a better offer, Calandra said, he decided to take it while continuing to proceed with the rezoning application in the event he wanted other options in the future.

He said he would fully refund the $1,500 fee Woloshyn and Agus had paid for the rezoning application.

Calandra pointed to a note he sent to Woloshyn and Agus last Sunday highlighting his points. It included the fact that it had been made clear that until a lease was signed and a deposit put down, he would be free to entertain other offers on the building.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Comments (1)

Up 1 Down 3

Just deserts... on Oct 26, 2016 at 12:51 am

Sounds like perhaps some just deserts…what goes around, comes around. Maybe EW is getting some boomerang karma

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