Members of Bradford West Gwillimbury council are pledging to support local entrepreneurs after several home-based business owners shared their panicked concerns about potential new bylaw changes.
“Small business is the backbone of the Canadian economy. The bylaw changes will improve the opportunities for more home-based businesses to operate in our neighbourhoods,” said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
“We will come up with the right balance between businesses and residents to reside in the same community. I look forward to one day seeing the next billion-dollar business (starting up) in Bradford West Gwillimbury.”
Leduc was responding to questions from the Bradford Board of Trade, which recently asked council members their thoughts about the proposed zoning bylaw changes and shared their answers on its website.
The town is considering a change to a legal grey area in its bylaws to allow more home businesses, including music and swimming lessons, medical practitioners, fitness instruction, and catering.
The proposed changes include safeguards, such as limiting home business hours between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and not allowing customer pickups, which some local entrepreneurs say will cost them thousands of dollars or put them out of business.
“Right now, I work until 9:30 p.m. Though I do teach some lessons during the day, I don't truly begin work until after 4 p.m. simply because that is when school kids usually are out,” said Ben Simon, who teaches private guitar lessons in BWG.
He said limiting his work hours to 7 p.m. on four nights a week would cost him $15,000 in annual income.
“To eliminate the ability to work these regular hours is a detriment to both the small home-based business owner, and those directly positively impacted by the business owner. If this goes into effect, I have to seriously consider whether teaching guitar will be feasible in this town.”
Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie Jr., who runs Bradford Jewellery by Peter Dykie, started his business at age 18 out of his home and said he fully supports others doing the same.
“In today’s economy, it is a good option for people to create opportunities and eventually rent a commercial space as their business flourishes,” he said.
“I believe that insurance should be considered, the hours of operation should be more flexible and proper parking should be implemented so it does not affect fellow neighbours. I believe it is important to research other municipalities, take our time and do it right.”
Several council members were quick to tell the Bradford Board of Trade in their responses that no official decision has yet been made on changing the zoning bylaws for home businesses, so there is still time for people to share their concerns and ideas.
“To clarify a misunderstanding that is out there, nothing has been decided or approved or voted on yet,” said Ward 2 Coun. Gary Baynes.
During a public meeting Oct. 2, Baynes spoke in favour of expanding home-based business hours until 9 p.m. to give people more time after work to pick up their purchases.
“The other two parts that need changing, in my opinion, would be to A) allow clients to pick up what they ordered, and B) re-examine the maximum number of concurrent clients,” he told the Bradford Board of Trade. “We will get this to work for home occupations in BWG. We have to!”
Mayor Rob Keffer agreed some amendments need to be made to the proposed changes, such as allowing customer pickups and extending the hours of operation.
“The hours of operation mustn’t be so rigid that they hurt the business. If we have noise provisions in place, do we really need to set hours of operation in the bylaw?” he said.
“Council needs to adopt standards that allow home-based businesses to thrive and continue to be a valued component of our community.”
The newly-elected council will be sworn in Dec. 4, and its first regular meeting will be held Dec. 18.
Council is expected to address home business bylaws in early 2019.
