City of Powell River Council will consider amendments to civic legislation pertaining to carriage houses.
At the January 31 committee of the whole meeting, planner Rachel Pukesh said the intent of amending the zoning bylaw and sustainable official community plan (SOCP) is to allow for, or incentivize, further carriage house development.
“We took some feedback over the last five years of regulating carriage houses and said how can we do better, how can we facilitate some larger, more family-oriented carriage houses, how can we streamline the process and possibly have our applicants in front of council seeking variances a little less often,” said Pukesh. “I’m back now with those actual bylaw amendments for this committee’s consideration.”
Pukesh said at the December 13, 2022, committee of the whole meeting, staff proposed some amendments, and an overview of public engagement was also provided.
Pukesh said direction to staff from the December meeting was to return to a future committee meeting with bylaw amendments for consideration that reflect changes proposed by staff. She said the one exception staff heard from the committee was to allow two-storey carriage houses; staff members were proposing single-storey living space.
What is not proposed to change at this time is which zones and where in the city carriage houses are permitted, maximum accessory building lot coverage provisions and maximum accessory building height restrictions.
“Our property owners still have the option to pursue a variance, either through city council or the board of variance, if they are looking to submit a proposal that’s a bit higher than our maximum, or cover more of their lot,” said Pukesh. “What staff hopes to achieve through these bylaw amendments is improved, more clear guidelines, which ultimately result in more attractive, comfortable and private living spaces, oftentimes for intergenerational living on the same property.
“We are also looking to provide more equity between the guidelines and the standards that our new construction or new build applicants need to meet, versus applicants who are looking to redesignate a house on their property that might be much older.”
Pukesh said increasing the maximum building floor area of a carriage house will provide some property owners with the ability to build some larger units with multiple bedrooms to accommodate families.
She added that there is also more delegated authority to staff to allow for some relaxations on setbacks and separations when people are converting or redesignating an existing home to a carriage house. She said staff is also looking for some language in definitions that will better align with the BC Building Code.
City councillor George Doubt made a motion to move the SOCP and zoning bylaw amendments to council for first and second reading, and for the matters to be subjects of public hearings. The motion carried unanimously.
