A Steinbach business has been granted a variance that it doesn't need to pave its parking lot, although not without some controversy.

Oliver Kopp of the Rental House along Park Road West appeared before council Tuesday to ask for the variance. He says it doesn't make sense to pave a parking lot along a gravel road.

City council was advised that the business has not been granted a permanent occupancy permit because, two years after it opened, the paving has still not been completed. Despite that fact, councillor Susan Penner moved to grant the variance.

"To me, it doesn't make sense for a business on a gravel road to have to have to pave. Gravel gets onto the driveway and it ends up being quite messy, Paving and asphalt is very expensive. I think if roads are paved, absolutely businesses should have paved parking lots, but in terms of being along gravel access, I don't agree. I think it's a bigger issued that council needs to talk about because it's increasingly becoming an issue and I suspect it will become even more so now with the annexation and acquiring even more land that has gravel."

But councillor Michael Zwaagstra strongly cautioned council against granting the variance. He says it sets a very dangerous precedent.

"This is a very concerning precedent because even though there's a signed development agreement that the owner had signed and agreed to, two years after the fact, the city is retroactively saying that now that doesn't matter. That is concerning for anyone who values the importance of upholding our development agreements."

In the end, council voted 4-3 to approve the variance with Zwaagstra, Mayor Chris Goertzen and councillor Cari Penner voting against it.