A 625-square-foot Nanoose Bay cottage may soon end up in the landfill.
“Bureaucracy is standing in the way,” owner Joe Ringwald told The NEWS Friday. “The options are somebody has to come take it away for free or it ends up in the landfill.”
Ringwald explained he’s currently building a house on his property in Beachcomber while living in the small cottage. However, RDN land use regulations prohibit Ringwald from having two dwellings on the same property. That means in the next few weeks he needs to get rid of the cottage.
Ringwald was hoping to gift it to his neighbour, Nigel Lutz, who recently purchased an empty lot just 700 metres away.
Ringwald said he’s offered the cottage to a few people, and even reached out to Habitat For Humanity, but it’s too costly to relocate the small building in its entirety a long distance.
Environmental consciousness is top of mind for Ringwald, and he said he doesn’t want to see a perfectly livable home end up in the landfill — especially in an area where the rental market is a growing issue.
Lutz, who currently lives in the Lower Mainland but is hoping to eventually relocate to the Island, said it would be a perfect solution.
“We would be able to have a beautiful weekend home that we could use until we are able to construct a large home later down the road,” he told board members last week at an RDN electoral area planning committee meeting. “We could become active members in the community, tidy up our property and enjoy the lifestyle in Nanoose and what the region has to offer.”
However, a building regulation states “the building must appraise at a value equal to or greater than 100 per cent of the average assessed value of the improvements of the neighbouring developed properties within 100 metres.”
Lutz said the cottage in question was appraised in 2010 showing it’s worth $79,300, whereas the average value of surrounding homes is approximately $155,000. This includes trailers, manufactured homes and brand new, waterfront homes.
“This regulation is in place to stop derelict homes from being relocated that would devalue the neighbouring houses,” said Lutz. “However, we feel that our situation is a special case and would have the complete opposite effect; adding this beautifully renovated cottage to our property would not only save it from further contributing to the growing landfill, but it would allow us to use the property as it is meant to be used rather than in its current state which is a vacant lot with wild grass and shrubs slowly taking over.”
Phone calls to regional district director Bob Rogers, who represents Nanoose Bay, were not returned by press time.
Ringwald said it would be a shame to see the cottage destroyed in a time where environmental stewardship is paramount.
“We’re all in a process of change, rules are good but they don’t stand the test of time, they need to evolve with us,” he said, noting he has about 10 weeks to figure out how to move forward in dealing with, or disposing of the building.
