City of Powell River Council has given first three readings to a zoning amendment bylaw for inclusion Powell River’s acreage at 6831 Artaban Street.
At the October 10 city council meeting, councillors also adjusted subject conditions for the zoning amendment.
Director of planning services Jason Gow told council he was presenting an update to the original application to amend the zoning of the Artaban Street property.
He said on September 12, council resolved to defer readings of the amendment bylaw to the October 10 meeting to allow staff and the applicant to negotiate further details.
“On September 17, staff met with the applicant to discuss the proposal and to negotiate an outcome that both parties could support,” said Gow.
He said his written report to council outlined negotiations and proposes amendments to the subject conditions prior to zoning approval being granted.
“The focus of the September 17 negotiations was the proposed number of dwelling units across the development and the applicant’s amenity contribution,” said Gow. “You may recall the applicant was not satisfied with the subject conditions included as part of the council resolution, moved on July 11, that requires a minimum of two dwellings per lot, as well as a request to provide a community amenity contribution in the form of affordable housing rental units, secured under the terms of the housing agreement.
“The applicant expressed concerns that these requirements would make the development unachievable. The applicant’s preference is to have the option to achieve higher density development.”
Gow said the applicant would also like to contribute to the city’s affordable housing reserve fund and make a cash contribution for dwelling units instead of providing affordable housing units.
He said the outcome of the September 17 meeting is that the applicant has agreed to provide 80 dwelling units across the entire development and provide a cash contribution of $500 per dwelling unit created for deposit into the city’s affordable reserve fund.
Gow said in the original proposal, the developer was proposing 54 lots, which was a unit per lot. He added that staff were looking for 108. He said the latest proposal for 80 dwelling units across the entire development are 28 less than staff originally had said, but 26 more than what the developer had proposed, so it’s almost in the middle.
“Staff is in support of both changes,” said Gow. “The 80 dwelling units would be achieved through a mix of single detached dwelling units and townhouses. To support this, the applicant has proposed an amendment to the original rezoning and subdivision application. The updated subdivision plan has an additional lot being created.”
The original rezoning application called for two properties in the subdivision, with the existing institutional facility to remain zoned for institutions, and the larger property to be rezoned to CD4 (small lot residential). The new proposal is for a three-lot subdivision, involving rezoning to RM1(compact residential) for the townhouse development, according to Gow’s written report to council.
Councillor Earl Almeida said he had asked for the deferment so the city and applicant could have further discussion and he liked the results, with both parties in approval.
Councillor George Doubt said he didn’t see any requirement for the multi-family portion of the development to be built.
Gow said his hope is the developer will meet their word and build on that lot.
“My true hope is they will see how many units that they sell in multi-family and come back asking to convert some of the bare land strata to multi-family lots,” said Gow. “I understand the housing market in our community and I know where the price point is. I know those single-family lots are not going to come in at half a million dollars. They are going to come in higher than that and we know the multi-family property is actually what is desirable and needed in our community.”
Doubt said when he looked at the property, he saw it as an opportunity for council to do something to create some possibilities for affordable housing.
“I was encouraged by the requirement in the previous version of this that each building should have two dwellings in it,” said Doubt. “I heard what the proponents were saying, that this would move a $500,000 house up to a $700,000, and that would be unaffordable.
“I went home and did my homework and figured out if you sold one part of that two-dwelling building for $400,000 and the other one for $300,000, which adds up to that $700,000, you actually, get two homes, one of which would be affordable,” said Doubt.
“The city should do more for affordable housing so I’m not going to vote in favour of this.” The motion was to rescind four subject conditions from the original agreement.
Councillor Jim Palm said he had reached out to the proponent, who seems happy with the new, revised report.
“The number one factor for me is, we need to build more housing,” said Palm. “I very much value this proposal coming back and I’m fully in favour.”
Councillor Trina Isakson said given that the property is owned by inclusion, she expressed disappointment that they are not prioritizing this land for affordable housing, but she was liking the new proposal more than the original one.
“It probably doesn’t go as far as I would like overall with density and the number of multi-family units, but it’s much closer to what I would hope for this area of the community,” said Isakson.
Council voted to rescind four subject clauses from the original council July 11 resolution, with Doubt opposed.
Council then voted for six new subjects in the application, with Doubt again opposed.
Councillors passed the first three readings of the zoning amendment bylaw unanimously.
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