Roadside seller seeks rezoning to keep selling his blueberries

A Sudbury man is going to tonight's meeting of the planning committee in hopes of saving his roadside blueberry stand.

Arthur Choquette has sold the berries at the South Lane location for the last 10 years. Roadside blueberry sellers are a common sight in Northern Ontario in summer, and are a small cottage industry all unto themselves.

Last year, however, someone made a bylaw complaint about Choquette's stand, where he had placed a shipping container, a tent and a shed. The stand is located on land zoned agricultural, which means it can't be used for a retail business.

So tonight he's applying for permission to operate his stand, with the tent, but with the shed and the container removed from the property. If approved, it would only be temporary — three years.

While recommending approval, the staff report calls for the entrance to be relocated further south, to ensure it is a safe distance away from the highway. Choquette must also get the required permits from the Ministry of Transportation.

The land – about three acres in total – is owned by Carpentry Investments of Sudbury Ltd., which allows Choquette to operate from the site.

“The applicant has been advised ... that the entrance to the property should be no closer than 45 m (147.3 ft.) to the Highway 69 right-of-way,” the report says. “As a result, some clearing of the bush area to the south of the existing gravel surfaced area may be necessary to accommodate a structure and revised entrance.”

To date, the city has received no letters or phone calls objecting to the temporary rezoning for the blueberry stand.