City council will consider making allowances for smaller lots and more compact housing products on non-through streets, such as cul-de-sacs and p-loops.
Select Engineering Consultants Ltd. submitted an application on behalf of Landrex to remove a regulation in the City’s land use bylaw that require lots less than 11.5 metres in width to be located on through streets only.
According to the city’s website, if the regulation is removed, smaller lots could be subdivided on non-through streets, and more compact housing products with front driveway access could also be added.
A tentative public hearing date for council to consider the changes is scheduled for July 4.
Mike Yochim, director of operations at Landrex, said the developer is pursuing the change to provide more diverse product for homeowners to purchase.
“What we’re seeing is more demand of smaller square foot homes and lower price points,” Yochim said. “We’re trying to work with the City to provide more options to facilitate bringing on that demand that we’re seeing in the market.”
Yochim said Landrex is particularly focused on new subdivisions for the change, rather than infill. He noted that revamping land use bylaws can help ensure that rules are still relevant.
“It’s always good to read [the bylaws] and ask, ‘Are we still seeing the same thing as we did five years go?’” Yochim said.
Grandin residents concerned
Amanda and David, a wife and husband residing in Grandin, have written a letter to city council opposing the changes, which was also signed by four neighbouring households. Both David and Amanda said they don’t want their last names shared due to privacy concerns and David’s work in the construction industry.
Amanda described the potential change as “cookie cutter,” noting it would apply to all neighbourhoods the same, even if more compact housing won’t fit with the way the area was originally designed.
The couple shared their own negative experience with a higher-density development within their community, where a builder’s application to put a duplex on a subdivided lot was initially denied by the City, but later successfully appealed.
Throughout the appeal process, Amanda and David felt the City and builder prioritized profit over the character, service capacity, and safety of their own neighbourhood.
“If we didn’t have this bad experience … I don’t even know if we would have noticed the proposed amendments,” David said. “That being said, we’re now alert to the potential implications of this change for St. Albert as a whole … you’re allowing the floodgates of redevelopment to take place, but in a very irresponsible way.”
When asked how the proposed land use bylaw change could impact the city’s existing neighbourhoods, City spokesperson Marci Ng relayed in an email that the change will “primarily impact new, developing neighbourhoods and future subdivisions,” though noted it will also apply to other parts of the city.
“It is expected that infill would be limited to the straight sections of the non-through road,” Ng said in the email, noting the land use bylaw requires a minimum distance at the curb that existing lots in the bulb of a cul-de-sac will be unable to meet.
“Applications from developers to subdivide existing lots into two dwellings would need to conform to the minimum standards within the land use bylaw in order to be approved,” Ng said.
Currently, the City has guidelines in a portion of its land use bylaw to which include rules for infill: the established neighbourhood overlay district, and the design guidelines for compatible development in established neighbourhoods: low density residential.
Ng said in the email that the City will continue to use these plans, as well as its larger conceptual document Flourish, to guide infill.
The application to remove the land use bylaw regulation is currently scheduled to come before council at a public hearing on July 4. The public hearing will be advertised in The Gazette, and those interested in speaking can register by email at [email protected].
