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Retirement dream home takes nightmare turn

Neighbour's 1.5 story shed erodes backyard privacy BY VOICE STAFF Esther and Bob Hougham bought 1000 Haist Street, just south of Welland Road, four years ago. It is their retirement dream home.
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Bob Hougham gazes at his neighbour’s “shed,” currently under construction on Haist Street. VOICE PHOTO

 

Neighbour's 1.5 story shed erodes backyard privacy

BY VOICE STAFF

Esther and Bob Hougham bought 1000 Haist Street, just south of Welland Road, four years ago. It is their retirement dream home. They made significant renovations, transforming the property inside and out. Open-concept kitchen, composite decking, interlocking brick patio surrounding a swimming pool, elaborate landscaping. The home backs onto the Steve Bauer Trail. Mature forest and lush greenery provide privacy and tranquility.

Now they are exasperated at the thought of a neighbour’s “backyard storage shed” intruding on their serenity.

Dan and Stephanie Tasich have lived next door at 998 Haist for the past two years. They have a large, modern home with a three-car garage attached. The Tasichs filed for a minor height variance with the Town of Pelham in May of 2017, seeking to increase the 3.7 metre (12.1 feet) maximum height for an “accessory building” to 5.4 metres (17.7 feet). Town Planner Curtis Thompson remarked that the extra height allows for the building to decrease its footprint, and commented “the authorization of this minor variance is not expected to generate negative impacts for adjacent users or the community at large” and recommended that the application be approved, which it was.

The Hougham’s allege that the peak of the structure under construction is 7.4 metres (24 feet), due to two tri-axle truckloads of gravel which were deposited at the base of the building to raise the grade. That is four times the height of the property fence, say the Houghams. They maintain that the shed’s footprint is 20 x 30 (600 square feet), three feet from the property line, and includes an upper level loft, plumbing, and an outdoor kitchen. Its foundation is seven feet deep, they indicate. (Most backyard sheds sit on patio stones, or on a poured concrete pad.)

“The Town’s lawyer told me that the cedars we planted will obscure the building in 20 years, so what’s the problem? I replied that I’m 71 years old, so twenty years from now doesn’t really help me,” says Bob. Esther adds that they would never have bought and refurbished the house if the accessory building next door had been in existence.

The Houghams took their case to the Ontario Municipal Board in September 2017, and lost.

Esther said that the Town’s lawyer told the hearing that the 1.5 story shed “fit beautifully in with the area.” The OMB adjudicator agreed. The Houghams said that during the OMB hearing, the Town’s lawyers repeatedly referenced the project as a “backyard shed.”

Contacted by the Voice, Dan Tasich declined an in-person interview, but said that the structure will serve as not just a storage shed, but a workshop. He is disappointed that his neighbours are upset, but he went through all the proper channels, getting the necessary building permits and variances with the Town.

“The neighbours didn’t want any windows facing their backyard, and we accommodated that in the design,” said Tasich. “This is a beautiful building. I really can’t understand their opposition.”

Esther is largely resigned to the situation.

“It’s probably too late for us, but hopefully this story will make others more circumspect about building projects their neighbours take on,” she says.

“Sometimes a simple shed morphs into something much bigger.”