News

Vet says bylaw hampers animal hospital

When the plans for his animal
hospital were approved by the
municipality, Saanichton veterin-
arian Nicholas Shaw thought he
had approval to build and operate
the hospital as indicated on the
plans.

He was wrong.

After more than a year of effort,
he is still trying to resolve a series
of problems, ranging from the
validity of the retail and grooming
services offered in the complex to
the option of boarding pets in
otherwise empty kennels.

Last May, when he was ready to
move into the building, he was told
he couldn’t have an occupancy
permit because of the retail and
grooming areas in the 5,240
Square foot structure.

“Tt blew my socks off,” he said.
“You can’t approve a plan for
someone to put up a building
where the uses are identified in the
plans and then tell them they can’t
use the building.”

The small room for bathing and
grooming dogs and the 580 square
feet of retail space were both
clearly identified on the building
plans, which Shaw said were
approved by Central Saanich in
January, 1991.

“T don’t understand how there
could be any ambiguity.”

The retail space was approved
only after Shaw collected a stack
of letters declaring that retail sales
of pet-related products was a com-
mon feature of a veterinary prac-
tice.

Grooming, he says, is an equally
common veterinary service as
many animals require nail clipping
and bathing for good health.

However, he stressed the retail
and grooming areas are only a
small part of the complex.

He has invested more than
$500,000 in the land, building and
equipment, which includes an ani-
mal operating theatre, provision
for dental care, an intensive care
and isolation section, examining
rooms and dog and cat kennels.

Now being completed are an
operating stall for large animals
such as horses and a waterbed-
equipped care unit for foals.

“Tt’s like a human physician
trying to run his own hospital,”
Shaw said.

He described the animal hospi-
tal aS a major investment in his
veterinary practice, which he has
operated in Central Saanich since
1985.

“Tm just a veterinarian. I’m not
a developer. I just wanted to con-
tinue with my practice,” Shaw
said.

“It’s my life’s investment and
my life’s commitment.”

Last July the municrpality intro-
duced a bylaw regulating animal
hospitals. The bylaw approved the
grooming and retail sales of veter-
inary supplies, but then declared
that only animals under a veterin-

1

arian’s care could stay in the
hospital’s boarding kennels.

Shaw recalls explaining to coun-
cil that he wanted the option of
occasionally boarding clients’ ani-
mals in the hospital when the
kennels were not needed by veter-
inary patients.

The present situation, he says,
“is like telling a farmer he can’t
grow flowers in a corner of his
field because it is not an agricul-
tural use.”

However, when he asked council

~ May 5 to reconsider the wording

on the bylaw, he was told he would
have to pay $1,000 to $1,500 to
cover the cost of the bylaw amend-
ment process.

Shaw maintains a majority of
council members are willing to
allow occasional boarding of ani-
mals at the hospital.

“They didn’t get it (the bylaw
wording) right the first time and 1
asked them to get it right,” Shaw
said.

“T had to take a pretty assertive
stance or I would have been bow-
led over,” he concluded.

Patience will solve problem

Central Saanich Ald. Bruce
Tobin sympathizes with the

restrictions encountered by Dr.

Nicholas Shaw in operating his
animal hospital, but says a little
patience will produce a solution.

The municipality’s new bylaw
1037 expands the definitions of
veterinary practice to let Shaw do
everything he wants to do in the
animal hospital, Tobin said.

He predicted the bylaw will be
passed by early this fall.

“I understand he is not happy
with the way council has acted on

this,” Tobin said.

However, he said he does not
have the technical knowledge to
comment on the building plans
Shaw originally submitted to the
municipality.

“Tam not qualified to be able to
judge whether the plans were clear
in a technical sense.”

The wording of the new bylaw is
council’s response to the problems
raised by Shaw.

“T think a resolution has been
reached,” Tobin said.

TheReview Wednesday, May 20,1992 — A4 =

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