Secondary suite decisions may fall to civil servants
An attempt to fix Calgary’s secondary suite system is back on the agenda at city hall — the third time in 17 months elected officials will try to streamline an onerous process that took up 20 per cent of council’s time last year.
The latest proposal, which suggests taking suite applications out of council’s hands, is signed by six members of council and marks the first stab at suite reform to come before the new council elected in October.
The three-part notice of motion on Monday’s agenda proposes making secondary suites a discretionary use across the city, meaning a process for approving or rejecting applications would still exist, though it would be up to civil servants, not elected officials, to make decisions.
“Residents in the area (would still) have the ability to give feedback on the application,” said Ward 12. Coun. Shane Keating.
“What this is, in simplest terms, is let’s look at it getting (secondary suites) out of council’s hands and putting it into the hands of administration.”
Currently, homeowners who live in a residence zoned R-1, R-C1 or R-C1L that want to legally put a stove in their basement (or backyard dwelling) must apply directly to city council for a land use redesignation.
The notice of motion argues that Calgary’s current system “creates a situation of political decision-making by council rather than evidence-based, regulatory decision-making by city administration.”
Calgary is one of the few cities in Canada where elected officials deliberate and vote on each individual secondary suite application, and it’s common for the monthly public hearing meetings to take hours and include tears, pleas and intimate personal details revealed by citizens seeking a zoning change.
Every other major Canadian city permits secondary suites citywide, including Edmonton, where a blanket bylaw change was enacted in 2007 that allows any homeowner to build a suite in any neighbourhood as long as they have a detached home and their property is larger than 360 square metres (3,875 square feet).
The “Secondary Suite Process Reform” notice of motion is signed by councillors Keating, Joe Magliocca, Ray Jones, Jeromy Farkas, Diane Colley-Urquhart and Mayor Naheed Nenshi, with some other elected officials stating that while they didn’t sign the document, they support certain parts of the proposal.
“(Discretionary) is a starting process to help cut some of the red tape we’re dealing with,” said Ward 5 Coun. George Chahal.
The three-part notice of motion also asks that fees for secondary suite applications be reinstated and suggests making enrolment in a registry mandatory for all new suites.
Keating, who brought forward a detailed suite reform plan last year that was heavily researched and narrowly rejected in an 8-7 vote, said he’s already penned a motion arising that will be brought forward if council approves making secondary suites discretionary citywide.
It asks that bureaucrats develop a policy on how discretion will be applied to applications in specific situations such as properties that don’t have back lanes or homes on a cul-de-sac, where parking is limited.
“This time, there will be change,” said Keating, noting each part of the notice of motion, and motion arising, will be voted on separately.
This attempt by elected officials to fix a bizarre system that’s recently been mocked nationally comes after former Coun. Andre Chabot brought forward a fourpart secondary suite plan in July that included a failed attempt to introduce fines for landlords who advertised their non-registered suites for rent.
A 2011 attempt to legalize secondary suites citywide and a 2015 proposal to allow secondary suites in four inner-city wards were also narrowly voted down by council.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who has so far failed on his 2010 mayoral campaign promise to legalize secondary suites across the city, previously told reporters he was “super-duper magically optimistic” the latest stab at reform could receive enough votes to pass because there are new players around the council table.