Municipality of North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said affordable housing is a top priority for council, and secondary dwellings will be an important part of the solution.
Secondary suites are a primary concern with the Municipality of North Cowichan and with residents, who are looking to build them.
About forty people attended an Oct. 24 ‘secondary suite workshop’ at the Chemainus 55+ Activity Centre. Organized by the Chemainus Residents Association, with funding from the Rotary Club of Chemainus, the evening brought together homeowners, North Cowichan representatives, and building tradespeople.
CRA Chair Kristi Hagen opened the meeting by pointing out that the housing crisis affects not only those who cannot find an affordable place to live; it also affects the ability of businesses to retain workers and store owners to maintain sales.
North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said affordable housing and homelessness are top council priorities. He pointed out that the Chemainus Official Community Plan—a document that will guide decision-making over the coming decade—calls for increased density in Urban Containment Areas like Chemainus, and that secondary suites and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) will be an increasingly important part of the housing mix.
In the OCP, a secondary suite is defined as an additional dwelling that is attached to the primary residence on a property; an ADU is a dwelling unit in a separate building on the same lot as the primary residence—like a carriage house or garden suite.
“Our OCP does have many policies that are very supportive of both secondary suites and accessory dwelling units on residential lots,” he said. “They are a way of creating what we call ‘gentle density’, as opposed to putting in a big apartment complex in a family residential neighbourhood.”
The municipality wants to streamline the application and approval processes to get more secondary dwelling units built faster. North Cowichan’s building bylaws, which haven’t been updated for more than a quarter century, have to be rewritten, Douglas said.
“One of the big challenges facing North Cowichan is we’ve got a 26-year-old zoning bylaw that’s totally misaligned with our OCP. We’ve got one of the oldest, most outdated zoning bylaws in Canada,” he said. An updated bylaw will make it easier for North Cowichan to approve secondary suites and ADUs..
CRA board member and retired building contractor, Tim Openshaw, outlined the process for getting secondary dwelling units approved and built. It’s important for homeowners to work closely with municipal planning and building department staff to get through the process. It’s complicated and sometimes lengthy, he cautioned, but ‘persistence’ pays off.
“I would like to encourage everyone who embarks on this type of project to be persistent. It will take time, energy, resources, and probably a fair bit of money to get through to completion,” he said.
As well as providing homes for tenants, secondary suites and ADUs are a source of income for new home buyers and for people facing rising interest rates and inflation.
Municipal Planner Christina Hovey outlined grants that are being made available to homeowners interested in building secondary suites. She referred to the B.C. Housing Secondary Suite Incentive Program which provides up to $40,000 in ‘forgivable loans’ to applicants who are willing to rent their units at ‘below market rates’ for a five year period (go to bchousing.org and search for ‘secondary suites’).
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