REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: May 10, 2021 Report No. DEV-21-034
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Tricia deMacedo, Policy Planner and Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Public Hearing - Detached Accessory Dwelling Units Amending Bylaw
End
RECOMMENDATION:
That Council, upon considering comments made at the public hearing, resolves that Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, No. 2011, 1992, Amendment Bylaw No. 3013, 2021, attached as Appendix A to Staff Report DEV-21-034 and which would allow for the regulation of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units (DADUs) in specific areas of the Township, shown on Schedules D and E of Appendix A, be amended at third reading by replacing the map shown on Schedule D in the Bylaw with the revised map attached as Appendix C (labelled Schedule D) of staff report DEV-21-034.
RELEVANT POLICY:
Declaration of Climate Emergency
Official Community Plan Bylaw, 2018, No. 2922 [OCP]
Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050
Parking Bylaw, 1992, No. 2011
Development Application Procedures and Fees Bylaw, No. 2791, 2012
Advisory Planning Commission Bylaw, 2012, No. 2792
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
Healthy, Livable and Diverse Community - Support community growth, housing, and development consistent with our Official Community Plan (OCP).
BACKGROUND:
The following Appendices are attached to this report:
Appendix A: Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, 1992, No. 2011,
Amendment Bylaw No. 3013, 2021
Appendix B: Public Hearing Advertisement - Victoria News
Appendix C: Staff Presentation
Appendix D: Corrected map to replace Schedule D of Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, No. 2011, 1992, Amendment Bylaw No. 3013, 2021 by amending the Bylaw at third reading.
Appendix E: Correspondence
At the regular Council meeting of April 26, 2021 Council gave second reading to Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, No. 2011, 1992 Amendment Bylaw No 3013, 2021 (cited as Amending Bylaw 3013 thereafter). This bylaw will allow for Detached Accessory Dwelling Units (DADUs) as a permitted use in two new zones and one existing zone of the Township. Council also authorized staff to make arrangements and advertise for a Public Hearing for the Amending Bylaw at this same meeting.
It should be noted that the map shown in Schedule D of the Bylaw contains a mistake in that it identifies RS-5 in addition to the RS-1 zoned lots. The corrected map is attached as Appendix D. The Bylaw will be amended at third reading to correct this mistake. The maps used for the Public Hearing Notices both online and in the newspaper are correct and the mapping change does not alter use or density of the affected properties.
OCP ANALYSIS:
During the Township’s Official Community Plan (OCP) review in 2017, the public was found to be very supportive of the concept of allowing DADUs in the municipality. Policy was added under Housing and Residential Land Use that states: “Support the inclusion of detached accessory dwelling units on appropriate low density residential land use designated areas where only one principal dwelling unit exists.”
All DADU applications will be required to obtain a Development Permit for both form and character as well environmental matters. Existing buildings, contours, trees, servicing etc. could all impact the potential for adding a DADU even if the property is already zoned. The current fee for a DP in the Township is $750. All DPs will be reviewed by the Advisory Planning Commission prior to going to Council for final approval.
Design guidelines for DADUs are embedded in the new bylaw to provide the applicant, staff, and Council with direction on the desired form and character of these units. Proposed design guidelines specific to DADUs would include those to address the street presence of the suite, entry way design, landscaping and open space, size in relation to the principal building and roof projections.
DADUs will also be subject to the existing environmental and form and character guidelines in the following Development Permit Areas:
• Development Permit Area No.1: Natural Environment
• Development Permit Area No. 3: Enhanced Design Control Residential
• Development Permit Area No. 7: Energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction.
• Development Permit Area No.8: Water conservation
ZONING ANALYSIS:
The following table summarizes regulations within the zoning bylaw amendment:
PARKING ANALYSIS:
One extra parking space will be required for parking for residents of the DADU. To reduce the impact of additional parking on-site the bylaw contains provisions to permit this parking to occur in front of the front face of the principal building (not currently allowed for single family dwellings or duplexes). In addition, staff may support variances to this requirement where mature trees or landscaping would be affected by installation of a parking space for a DADU. DADUs both with and without additional vehicle parking will be encouraged to provide secure, covered bicycle parking for future residents. Updates to the Parking Bylaw will seek to make this a requirement in the future.
OTHER
Accessory Building Conversion
The regulation will not permit accessory buildings constructed after the adoption of the bylaw to be converted to DADU to prevent circumvention of the development permit process. In addition, accessory building conversion will require the applicant to have a third party certify the building is constructed to building code for residential use.
Owner Occupation
The bylaw amendments contain provisions to require the owner to sign a covenant prior to issuance of a Development Permit to ensure a DADU cannot be subdivided and stratified from the Principal Dwelling. In addition, a housing agreement will be required to ensure that either the DADU or the Principal Building are occupied by the owner of the property.
COMMENTS FROM OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Community Safety Services (Building Inspection): New DADUs will be treated as with any other new construction. Regarding conversion of accessory buildings, Community Safety Services staff have pointed out the difficulty of determining whether an accessory building has been built to the necessary code requirements for a residential dwelling. Their preference is that applicants be required to hire a third party to make this assessment.
Engineering Services: Engineering staff have advised that all DADUs will be required to share services with the existing principal building and that no new services will be permitted. Underground wiring to the DADU will be required.
Fire Services: The Fire Department has reviewed the regulations and requests that the DADU have visible addressing on the building, and numbering that has been provided by the Township.
COMMENTS FROM THE ADVISORY PLANNING COMMISSION
The proposed regulations and guidelines were considered at the regular meeting of the APC held on January 19, 2021 and the following motions were passed:
That the Advisory Planning Commission recommends to Council the proposed regulations and guidelines for the legalization of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units in the Township of Esquimalt be approved with the condition that no additional parking space be required for the DADU unit.
Reason: Parking takes up too much green space.
That the Advisory Planning Commission recommends to Council the proposed regulations and guidelines for the legalization of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units in the Township of Esquimalt be approved with the following condition that consideration be given to removing the requirement to have an owner live on site.
Reason: There is no requirement for secondary suites to be owner occupied and there have been no major issues.
That the Advisory Planning Commission recommends to Council the proposed regulations and guidelines for the legalization of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units in the Township of Esquimalt be approved with the following consideration be given to changing the height to 1.5 storeys to accommodate interior lofts.
Reason: It will Increase livable and versatility.
COMMENTS FROM THE DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE
The proposed regulations and guidelines were considered by the DRC at their meeting of February 10, 2021 and the following motion was passed:
That the Esquimalt Design Review Committee (DRC) recommends to Council to approve the proposed regulations and guidelines for the Detached Accessory Dwelling Units.
Rationale: Solid approach based on DADU eligibility. Likes the amount of flexibility and control in the policy.
Timeline:
October 2017 Committee of the Whole directs staff to include policy for future garden suites in new Official Community Plan using the development permit process.
March 9, 2020 Committee of the Whole endorses proposed regulatory scheme and proposed public engagement plan.
April/May 2020 Survey conducted.
November 9, 2020 Committee of the Whole requests staff to prepare an amending bylaw based on proposed regulations and survey results.
February 22, 2021 Council gives first reading to amending bylaw and authorizes mailout to affected residents.
March 9, 2021 Letter to eligible properties mailed.
April 26, 2021 Council gives second reading to amending bylaw.
.
ISSUES:
1. Rationale for Selected Option
Staff have taken a conservative approach to the development of DADU regulations for Council and residents to feel comfortable with beginning this new form of development. For this reason, one storey buildings with small footprints have been chosen rather than a more complicated regime with varying degrees of size and height depending on lot size. The City of Victoria experience indicates that starting with two storey DADUs caused some community concerns and staff there have since needed to lower the allowable height.
Using a Development Permit to permit DADUs allows Council the ability to review and authorize each DADU on its design and environmental impact according to the guidelines which have been proposed. While the DP process does not allow for the public to provide comments, staff are confident that the regulations and guidelines, as proposed, will limit neighbours’ concerns.
Public feedback on legalizing DADUs has been extensive and is overwhelmingly positive. It appears that the public is receptive to even less regulation and larger DADUs in the future (for example see APC motions regarding height and parking). Finally, the regulations and process framework as proposed are in line with Esquimalt’s neighboring municipalities or are more conservative in approach. Should a DADU proposal not meet these regulations, a rezoning or DVP application will be forwarded to Council.
2. Organizational Implications
Processing of DADU applications as Development Permits rather than rezoning applications will reduce the workload for all staff. However, each DADU will require additional staff time over and above that required for a secondary suite (BP only). Due to the expected level of interest in building DADUs in Esquimalt, Development Services and Building Inspection staff will be processing more applications in the future. The number of these applications is unknown currently.
3. Financial Implications
The potential financial implication of approving DADUs is that the property value of those eligible properties could increase due to the new use. However, as secondary suites are already allowed in the single-family zones and no additional units are being permitted in duplex zones, the increase should be minimized. There is no data available to assess this risk.
4. Sustainability & Environmental Implications
The addition of DADUs to the Township could have environmental implications for the loss of urban forest as trees are removed for new construction. A review of the tree bylaw is taking place in 2021 to address tree loss to new development; this is an opportunity to address tree replacement as well. Variances will be supported where the applicant is making changes to save existing trees.
Staff will encourage all DADU applicants to provide as much information as possible regarding the carbon intensity and energy efficiency of any new building. These small buildings are ideal to be heated with ductless heat pumps, saving the occupant operational costs as well as reducing carbon emissions.
5. Communication & Engagement
In addition to the 2020 survey, which was completed by almost 500 respondents, the detached suites webpage, set up in 2020, has received over 1100 unique page views. The draft regulations and guidelines have also been reviewed by both the Advisory Planning Commission and the Design Review Committee.
Staff have maintained a communications email list since early 2020 of residents who are interested in updates on DADUs in Esquimalt. This email list was created to include both those who responded on the survey that they would like to be notified and those who have emailed since the survey and stated they would like to be included. This email list has been used several times over the last year whenever reports to Council were on the agenda.
Policy changes to allow DADUs in Esquimalt have also been advertised in The Current and on social media. An article in the Victoria News was also published on April 16, 2021.
Notification to eligible property owners was sent to approximately 2500 individual owners of the eligible parcels in the first week of March. Owners were provided with the option of declining the rezoning (opting-out) and for various reasons owners of eleven eligible properties decided to do so. These properties have been removed from the schedules and will stay in the zone in which they are currently placed. If an application for a DADU is received from one of these properties, the applicant will need to rezone to allow a DADU as a permitted use.
Recently received correspondence from the public is attached as Appendix E.
Notice of the Public Hearing was printed in the May 6, 2021 and May 13, 2021 editions of the Victoria News.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. That Council, upon considering comments made at the public hearing, resolves that Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, No. 2011, 1992, Amendment Bylaw No. 3013, 2021, attached as Appendix A to Staff Report DEV-21-034 and which would allow for the regulation of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units (DADUs) in specific areas of the Township, shown on Schedules D and E of Appendix A, be amended at third reading by replacing the map shown on Schedule D in the Bylaw with the revised map attached as Appendix C (labelled Schedule D) of staff report DEV-21-034.
2. Council postpone consideration of the bylaw pending receipt of additional information.
3. Council defeats Zoning Bylaw, 1992, No. 2050 and Parking Bylaw, No. 2011, 1992, Amendment Bylaw No. 3013, 2021.