The owner of a Dartmouth art gallery and café says they’re at risk of having to close their doors because of a zoning bylaw dispute that could cost them thousands of dollars.
Oliver Mahon and his wife Megan opened The Darkside on Windmill Road in October of 2014. Since then, they’ve been accused by the municipality of not conforming to the zoning bylaw and are now scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
They could face a fine of $100 for each day of non-compliance, which Mahon estimates will amount to $47,000.
“I don’t have the resources to take that on,” he said.
“We just feel they’re really antagonizing us rather than letting business prosper.”
Mahon says prior to opening the business, they had applied for a bakery and café permit but were denied because the building was not zoned for that use. Instead, they applied and received a permit to operate an art gallery that had food and beverage as an accessory.
The venue sells coffee, drinks, baked goods, sandwiches and hot food items. There are approximately five tables and a bar stool area by the front window. About two dozen pieces of artwork from Nova Scotia artists are displayed on the walls for sale, along with mugs and T-shirts featuring The Darkside logo.
“We’ve had numerous artists of different styles, all local, sell lots of paintings and artworks here and a lot of that is because we’ve had the accessory food and beverage,” Mahon said.
“People who would never come in and look at art find themselves stopping by and appreciating the art and putting their money to contribute to local artists.”
Municipality sees it differently
City spokesperson Tiffany Chase says the owners were granted a permit to operate an art gallery and had submitted design plans that were approved by the municipality. However, what the owners ended up building did not match what was submitted.
“It’s meant to be an art gallery/art store with coffee service as an accessory use,” Chase said Monday.
“The designs that we received initially for the café and bakery are the same designs actually that went into play and that’s not what we approved under the art gallery. So that initial application that was denied to have a café and bakery is actually what they ended up proceeding with.”
Mahon argues the municipality never gave clear rules on what percentage of the business had to be an art gallery and what percentage could be a food business.
“We haven’t been given any metrics of how a business should be delineated between art and food and beverage. We don’t have numbers to apply to our situation and we’ve just had inconsistent responses the whole time,” he said.
The owners of The Darkside still have the option of seeking a zoning amendment through a development agreement process, which would include a $1,800 application fee and consultation with the neighbourhood.
Mahon says they are open to pursuing that.
Chase says the municipality had advised them of this option back in 2014 but they never started the process.
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