Steinbach city council this week denied a request to squeeze a house into an undersized property. The lot is located on the southwest corner of Barkman Avenue and First Street. The owners of a rental property there wanted to split off the side yard and then construct a house for themselves. That lot would have been only 4,247 square feet in size whereas the city's bylaws require a minimum of 5,500 square feet for a home. The applicants also asked for a variance to have a rear yard setback of 8 feet instead of the required 25 feet.

A number of neighbours showed up at city hall and spoke out against the plan saying it would be unsightly to squish a house into the small lot. They add the busy street corner doesn't need more traffic and they also feared the loss of large trees on the property if a home were built there.

City councillor Jac Siemens moved to deny the requests.

"The bottom line is that it's a huge ask to put a house on a small property. I think this goes way back to the early 2000's when there was a move for infill building where people would subdivide corner lots and build homes. There are some examples in Steinbach where it's not a good idea. I've always spoken against it."

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra seconded the motion.

"The reality is, is that the property is simply too small for what is being asked. It would have had to have a backyard of only 8 feet as opposed to the 25 feet that are required, the square footage was not sufficient either and we had a significant number of neighbours come out and express concerns about this proposed subdivision. When we take all that information together, it seemed pretty clear that this was not the right use for that property."

City council was unanimous in denying the requests.

Mayor Chris Goertzen notes city council dealt with a similar request in 2006.

"Council didn't feel comfortable with it 12 years ago and they didn't feel comfortable with it today. It was too much house for too small a property."