inclusion Powell River business partner Jim Agius has objected to recommendations made by City of Powell River’s planning staff for a planned residential development on Artaban Street in Cranberry.
At the July 30 special city council meeting, Agius appeared as a delegation, and said the zoning amendment for the property was presented at a previous council meeting on July 11, and the partners were not given the opportunity to review the report before it came to council.
“I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you about a couple of things we object to about the recommendations,” said Agius. “Number one is a minimum density of two dwelling units per lot to be achieved over the development.”
Agius said the development is comprised of 54 building lots. He said they range in size from 30 feet in width to 37 feet in width.
“They are very small building lots,” said Agius. “We’ve achieved a units per acre of about nine, and if just single-family homes were built in this subdivision, we would achieve that nine units per acre. With the CD4 zoning and the current provincial legislation, homes can be built with suites, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. It’s more than likely we will build homes with suites, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, but this recommendation is forcing us to build a minimum of duplexes. We can’t do that.
“It’s not fair from the perspective of a developer to have to build duplexes in an area that is off the main drag, behind the old Cranberry school. We applied for the CD4 zoning and that’s what we need.”
He said one of the reasons why his group does not want to build duplexes is because they want to create socioeconomic diversity.
“This is inclusion Powell River we are speaking about, and we don’t want to build a community that attracts the lowest income homes in the area,” said Agius. “If a family of five wants a single-family home on a small, affordable building lot, they should be able to have that. The lots aren’t big enough to have three bedrooms in a duplex.
“We want that opportunity to build single-family homes for the larger families that can’t afford homes on the larger properties in town.”
Agius said the second objection was to an item that requires the applicant to be required to work with staff to finalize a voluntary community amenity contribution in the form of affordable rental units secured within the residential development, under the terms of the housing agreement. He said what that means is staff wants the builders to build affordable housing units and rent them out.
He said the application was for a rezoning of the property, and it was illogical and the developers will not accept the requirement as presented, not knowing what the outcome would be. He said at the end of the day, it could mean 50 per cent of the housing would be built as affordable.
“We can’t go that route,” said Agius. “What we would like to do is go with the status quo, which is $500 per building lot that we contribute to the affordable housing fund. That’s what we’re prepared to offer.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott asked if there was something bigger than one house per lot on an average that represents the mixed community that Agius was highlighting. Agius said if they start building single-family homes and they start selling because they are affordable, the developers would probably stick with that. He said the intention is to build single-family homes with suites.
“The day of the duplex is gone,” said Agius. “If you look at development throughout British Columbia, duplexes aren’t being built anymore. What’s really popular are homes with suites. That’s what CD4 allows us to do.”
Elliott said Agius had mentioned building small single-family dwellings for $500,000 or less and asked if this was realistic. Agius said in Edgehill Crescent, on CD4 lots, they have four 2,400 square foot houses under construction, which will be on the market for $599,000.
“They are selling quite well to a younger generation because they see the value and don’t want an older home,” said Agius. “I firmly believe we can easily get homes on the market for less than $500,000.”
Councillor Earl Almeida said Agius had referred to concerns about the minimum density of dwellings per unit and referred to it as duplexes, but then also stated they were looking at building homes with suites. Almeida said he wanted to clarify if a home with a suite would also be considered two dwelling units.
Director of planning services Jason Gow said that was correct and that a secondary suite would satisfy the city’s requirement for two dwelling units per lot.
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