A La Broquerie resident built a secondary shed on his property without a building permit. 

The applicant, Paul Simard, got a building permit for his first shed, but not for his second shed. 

In La Broquerie, you’re not allowed two sheds on the property unless you have a primary residence on there first. 

Simard now has two sheds on his property, one without a permit, and does not yet have a primary residence there. 

At the La Broquerie Council meeting on Wednesday evening, council held a public hearing regarding the situation. 

Reeve Ivan Normandeau listed the three ways council could choose to proceed. 

Option 1 was to charge Simard the $350 for the cost of building permit, along with an additional penalty fine of $350, for a total cost of $700. 

Option 2 was to charge him just the $350 for the building permit, which he would have needed anyways, with no additional fine. 

Finally option 3 was to force the applicant to tear down the shed, which council agreed was quite extreme and not suitable in this circumstance, as none of Simard’s neighbours attended the public hearing, and there were no complaints from the community regarding the shed. 

Normandeau suggested option 1 as a good route to take, as handing out a fine will set a precedent and encourage others not to break the rules. 

“We live in a society with rules, and we need to abide by the rules because of the fact that if we don't abide by the rules, people can be building wherever, whatever, whenever they want,” he says. “The prudent way of dealing with this would be just to issue a fine and move forward. That's my opinion, I’m not sure what the rest of council feels.” 

Simard says he wanted to get the shed done before winter came and was running out of time, and asked council for some leniency. 

“I just want to retire peacefully. I don't take time to aim the rifle, I fire the bullet, and I aim the bullet after it leaves the barrel,” he says. “So we went ahead and did it because I wanted to do it before the winter would close in. That's why I was negligent and I'm fully responsible for not waiting for the permit to be fully completed.” 

Simard adds that if any complaints do arise regarding his shed, he would do his best to fix the situation, and he hopes council won’t charge him the additional fee, but he will oblige if that is their decision. 

Councillors Benno Friesen, Andy Loewen, and Paul Gauthier all leaned toward option 2, meaning no additional fine. 

Councillors Darrell Unger and Laurent Tétrault were absent.  

The five present came to a consensus on option 2, to charge the applicant $350 for the building permit with no additional costs. 

Simard thanked council, and reassured them this would not happen again. 

“I can assure you that any future permits or variances will be done in a timely fashion.I'll take time to look through the scope before shooting the bullet.” 

 

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