Saskatoon couple makes second bid to finish oversized Nutana home

The fight to finish an oversized Nutana home isn’t over yet.

Curtis and Rachelle Kelln bought their nearly finished University Drive house in July 2025. Now, for the second time, they’re appealing the city’s stop-work order, which has prevented them from finishing it.

The redesigned home has one remaining violation — it’s too tall. Specifically, it’s 1.18 metres, or roughly four feet, too tall.

Read more:

• Group applies for new injunction to halt removal of Ave. K homeless camp
• Bail hearing set for man charged in Foam Lake Crash that killed mother and daughters
• Mayor Block addresses Saskatoon encampment, homeless count halt

Before the Kellns took over, former owner Karl Miller had already built much of the home. The city issued the permit for that design in May 2022.

Between then and October 2023, “nine City building inspections had been completed without identifying the height discrepancy,” Curtis wrote in the couple’s second appeal.

But construction stopped when the original owner and his family died in 2023.

After the Kellns purchased the home, Curtis said they brought in a contractor to finish the interior. Two more city building inspections were completed, bringing the total to 11 between the original permits and the city’s stop-work order.

The city issued that order in May 2026 after finding three zoning deficiencies: the sidewall area, the upper-storey stepback, and the building height.

All construction on the home stopped, and the Kellns “applied for a development permit reflecting the as-built condition, and appealed the City’s refusal,” Curtis said.

In August, the Development Appeals Board denied that appeal.

Since then, the couple has worked with their contractor and made changes, according to Curtis, to make the design more compliant. The new design will remove a section of the exterior wall and reduce the size of one room so it’s farther back from the property line.

The only remaining violation is the building’s height, according to Curtis.

“The revised application therefore requires relief only from the 8.5-metre building-height limit. The existing height is approximately 9.68 metres, a variance of 1.18 metres,” Curtis said in the second appeal.

That works out to about four feet higher than permitted. Bringing the house down to the permitted height would require removing its third storey and performing “extensive reconstruction,” according to Curtis.

He added that it would likely mean demolishing and rebuilding the home.

In their second appeal, Curtis wrote that the couple is asking the board to grant this one height variance.

Neighbours in support

The Development Appeals Board received three letters from neighbours, all requesting the city relax its zoning requirements.

Mike and Kristi Federoff said they find the home “architecturally interesting, and the minimal additional height does not create any concern for us,” adding that demolishing and rebuilding the home would cause greater disruption in the area.

Rex and Gwen Beaton said the home’s height has never impacted their property, and they’d feel that way even if it was a few feet shorter.

Another neighbour, Barry Bernacki, said in his letter that while he understands it’s a complex situation, he supports the Kellns’ plans to finish the home despite the excess height.

“Further, I would hope that the City of Saskatoon would remedy inspection protocols to prevent further such events, if at all possible,” he said.

The development appeals board will hear the Kellns’ second appeal on Tuesday, Oct. 20.