Local cities eye brave new housing options
The Victoria option – permitting up to 6 units on a singlefamily lot – might not fly here, but something close to it could be under consideration
Six-plexes won’t be sprouting up yet on every single-family lot in the Central Okanagan.
A new housing policy in Victoria now allows up to six units to be built on lots that used to be reserved for single-family homes.
Some call it an end to singlefamily housing zoning. While that may overstate the case slightly, it is an approach that has attracted a lot of attention as cities look for – and start to act on – innovative ideas to increase the housing supply.
Victoria’s is one of the broader policies out there, said Kelowna Infill and Housing Policy Manager James Moore, but many cities, including Kelowna and West Kelowna, are working on similar ideas.
Both cities are developing plans expected to be rolled out by the end of summer.
Not without controversy, Victoria’s “missing middle” policy amends bylaws, land-use procedures and the official community plan to permit infill, houseplexes and corner townhouses where zoning currently allows only single-family homes. It also allows city staff to approve non-controversial projects without having to go through council, something other cities are allowing as well.
Houseplexes, as the name might imply, are multi-unit buildings designed to look like a house.
The corner townhouses can have up to 12 units.
Other cities have different names for policies designed to allow more innovative types of housing in their populated areas, but missing middle is a favourite term right now. Architect Daniel Parolek of Opticos Design in Berkeley, Calif., is generally credited with coining the term “missing middle housing,” which involves providing more housing choices in sustainable, walkable places, says Opticos’ website.
Kelowna launched its Infill Options Program last summer, and is now exploring options for new types of housing. Vernon has a Housing Action Plan and refers quite a bit to “attainable housing.” Vancouver has its Housing Vancouver strategy, and so on.
“Victoria has picked a path. Each community has a slightly different way of approaching it,” said Moore.
Ontario is allowing up to four units on every single-family lot, provincewide, Moore said.
Kelowna’s Infill Options Program is a work in progress that will be completed over the next four to six months. “We’re looking at ways to expand options in core areas,” said Moore.
West Kelowna is also working on new approaches to housing through a new official community plan.
An open house last Wednesday, in the middle of a snowstorm, attracted a highly engaged crowd, noted Brent Magnan, the city’s planning manager.
The city conducted a housing needs assessment in the summer
and is now working, as part of the OCP, to put together short-, medium- and long-term solutions, said Magnan.
One particular need identified was the need for seniors housing.
“We know we’re short on rental accommodations,” he said.
Magnan used the word “gentle” to describe adding new types of housing. That would seem to mean radical housing options won’t be forced on an unwilling community. Asked to expand on that, he said conversations must be held with the community about housing.
“Diversity is a key,” he added. West Kelowna has acted in the past to add more and varied types of housing, approving carriage homes, secondary suites and apartment buildings of up to six storeys.
“The new OCP will be going quite a bit further,” said Magnan.
West Kelowna is projecting 14,000 more residents over the next 20 years. The OCP will plan for 18,000, he said. It anticipates a series of neighbourhood and urban centres with buildings up to six storeys, and 12 storeys in downtown Westbank.
“The OCP’s new Growth
Concept focuses most future growth in two urban centres, five neighbourhood centres and accommodates continued development beyond these centres with a focus on infill housing,” an explanation on the ourwk.ca website reads.
Seventy-five to 80 per cent of the land base in larger cities is typically reserved for single-family housing, Kelowna’s Moore said. “That makes it awfully difficult to provide the scale of housing needed to live there.”
In Kelowna, new measures will add to steps the city has taken over the last 6-7 years. Moore specifically cited a project in 2016-17 when the city prezoned
800 lots for infill, family-friendly housing. A new zoning bylaw in 2016 allowed four-unit buildings on RU7-zoned properties.
Those earlier efforts have shown there was a lot of demand for housing, and barriers – financial for some smaller builders, as well as zoning barriers, Moore said.
In Penticton, Blake Laven, the city’s director of development services, said Premier David Eby, when he was housing minister, indicated to municipalities he
would like to see up to three units allowed on single-family lots, as well as other measures to unlock potential development.
“That’s something we’re looking at,” he said.
Community discussions about what areas might be most suitable for higher density, and how much higher density, will probably happen soon, Laven said.
“Penticton always has the challenge of being constrained,” Laven said, but he added there are still opportunities for growth. Supporters of the Victoria policy see their city as a leader.
“Despite the weight of this change, I know this is the right direction for our city,” Coun. Matt Dell was quoted as saying in a Times Colonist story.
“A big piece of my rationale for supporting this generational policy is that my Victoria is a leading city, not just in B.C. or Canada, but around the world. I want to be innovative.
“Our land-use decisions in the city need to recognize that if we limit growth in the city, we are encouraging sprawl and environmental destruction outside of the city.”