Steinbach City Council has approved a variance that will allow for a four-storey apartment complex to be built at 71 Chrysler Gate.

The property is zoned Residential Medium Density or RMD which allows for up to 3 storeys.

However, even though the two buildings will have four floors of housing, Developer Edwin Pankraz says the fourth level of additional housing will be basement suites.

"The idea was to have the basement fairly deep into the ground with window wells and have a low sloped roof to limit the impact of a higher building because most of the buildings in this area are two-storey. The total height of this building would not be more than a typical three-storey building which is allowed on an RMD zoned property."

Pankraz says the plan is to build two buildings that would each have 8 units.

71 Chrysler Gate is right next to the intersection of Chrysler Gate and South Park DriveEldon Wallman, who owns a neighbouring property, attended the public hearing and expressed two concerns. Though he actually likes the look of the building, he says he selfishly doesn’t want to have an apartment next door that can look into his backyard.

More importantly, however, Wallman says he has safety concerns. He notes most apartments like this are inhabited by young families and 71 Chrysler Gate is located right at the intersection of South Park Drive and Chrysler Gate which is dangerous.

"My concern is for the children in this place because there is no sidewalk. They have to cross that intersection where people are disregarding the stop signs to get onto the sidewalk at Chrysler Gate or South Park. There is no sidewalk for them. The only sidewalk runs back to the school so they have to run across the street somehow."

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra moved to approve the variance.

"What is being asked for is the extra storey. We are not talking about the building being any higher, we are talking about allowing a basement. In terms of questions that are raised regarding privacy, it is obviously important to respect privacy as much as possible but at the end of the day, if we deny this variance, the applicant can still build a three-storey building that would be the exact same height."

As far as safety concerns go, Zwaagstra says they are definitely worth noting.

"This is something that Mr. Mayor, you and I can raise at the next RCMP advisory meeting in terms of an intersection that needs to be monitored. We are adding an extra officer specifically for the purpose of traffic enforcement and while a lot of that enforcement will take place on Main Street, it is not exclusively Main Street it is general traffic enforcement."

Zwaagstra says there certainly seems to be an issue of traffic enforcement at that intersection.

Council was unanimous in approving the variance.